LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

§iinf,^.-^§apim¥ 

Slielf-.S-l-3 

I UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 



\ 



NAVEL □ RANGE, 



Orange Culture affords him both a Career and a Revenue."— Bishop. 



THE ORANGE: 
Its Culture in California 



A Brief Discussion of the Lemon, Lime, and Other Citrus Fruits. 



5y- WM, A^SFALEmr 




With an Appendix on /nsccis Injiiriotis to Citrus Trees, 
and Hoiv to Combat T/iern. 

[FlvOM TJIE AVORIC Ol" llOX. MATT1H•:^^ COOKE.] 



IIIVEKSIDE: '^^ \ 

rr.KSS AXl) HOnXICULTURIST STEAM TKINT. 

1885. 



Eutered accordiug to Act of Congress iu the year 1884, 
By WM. A. SPALDING, 
111 the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washiuglou, D. 




THE HESPERIDES. 



>o^ 

Where the .miifgoeUi down iv the We.st, 
Where the splits of earth find rest — 
In the occident-land of the blest — 
There dwell the Hespen'des. 

They are daughters of Erebus— yif/ht, 
Til vestments of shad mc bedight, 
And they Icnoiv not the day nifh its light— 
Those Sisters Hesperides. 

They are guarding'the apples of gold— 
Eartfi^s gift to fond Hera of old, 
And their vigils forever they hold 
O'er the fruit-lad e^i trees. 

And, the s/iirils of earth and air 
Knmv not that the Sisters are there, 
Or the trees with their fruitage so rare 
In that Occident-land of peace, 

Eor darkness is over them thrown: 
Night claim eth the fruit for his own;— 
Well he guardeth the Great Unknown, 
With his shades, the Hesperides. 



. O glorious land of the West/—- 
O land T hold dearest and best, 
Elysium is not then possessed 

Of fruits so enchanting as these, 

Thy groves that are ever in sight 
Bear apples of gold not less bright, 
And their giiardians are angels of light, 
Obeying the" Day ^s decrees. 

Blest mortals who there do abide! 
Of the fruit that no shadows hide 
They may eat and be satisfied, 
Nor fear the Hesperides. 



FKHFACE. 



Ijipso pajies .set fortli my ol)sorvati(>ns of tlie f'itriis l-'i iiii Tndusti y during a resi- 
dence of eleven j-ears in Southern CalLforiiia. and my experience as a jiraelica* 
horllenUurlsi for four years. The prinoiples oi proiva^atiou and plantin{:' I )ia\e 
worked out witli my own liands, and know them to be more than abstract tlieo- 
riua. Jn matters periainina,- to tlie gathering', paekinu' and sliij^pinii' of fruit, I have 
disonssed esta])lis}ied metliods, advocating the luost advanced. T hope this trealLsf 
ixiay i>rove a pleasant reminiscence to tliose of its i-eaders who are experienced 
urangQ jiirower.s, ajid tliat it may aid the novice w})o lays hold of the orange tiee 
to avoid ilie thorns, 

W. A, S. 

Eiversvfe, Ca'. 



INDEX. 



_^ntiquity of the Citrus Family •"> 

Acapulc'O Oiangcs 22 

Arrangement of Xursery ^2 

After Care of Xursery o4 

Age of Stock for P^udding' -U; 

Arranging an Orchard...". 45 

Alternately Oj)posite 47 

Advantages of Septuple S3'.stem 4'.t 

Ai^plying Manure (i4 

Artificuil Fertilizers lU 

Application of Tree Waslies 07-!i7 

Advisable Crops (i^ 

Analyses of Oranges and Lemons 47 

Biitlded Varieties 21 

l>ald\vin*s Favorite Orange 22 

Bel'gamot Orange 22 

Boxes for Plantmg Se':'ds 27 

Budding...,,. , 

Buds — Choosing ; ."Jii 

Buds — Preparing.. oH 

Buds— Cutting :.!7 

Budded Stock— Care of 

Boundary lanes ., . 44 

Balling Trees oi 

Broken Balls o'l 

Balling, ^yhen not Desirable 

Backsets .3.') 

Basin ^fethod of Irrigation 'kS 

Barrel Irrigation ,")'.• 

Black Scale 60-9:; 

Budded Trecs—^yiieu They Yield t;^ 

P>udded I;'ruit — Less Capacity 70 

Boxes for Packing 72 

Budding Old Trees 74 

Bonnie Brae I;emon S(j-S7 

Country— Orange Growing h 

Characteristics of the Orange., is 

Covering the Seed 29 

Cold— Protection from .il 

Cold Weather — Lemons 81 

Condition of Stock for Budding -U] 

Cutting Stocks and Inserting Buds 37 

Cutting- Stocks after Budding 38 

Cutting Stubs , 38 



PAGE 

(.'are of Budded Stoc^c .39 

(^'aution 39 

Clearing and Preparing Land 41 

Cactus Land 42 

Check Pvows— Square 45 

Clieck Bows — Quiiu^unx 47 

C u 1 1 i \-a t i o n — Object 55 

Cultivation versus Irrigation 55 

Cultivating Orchard 7,ti 

( 'ultivating after Irrigation 59 

Cultivation— Too Soon 59 

Compost Heap U3 

Cottony Cusliion Scale (Hi-Otj 

</ro})S Not .Vd\-isal)le tjy 

Crops Advisable 09 

Citrus and Deciduous Mixed G9 

Caring Fruit 71 

( 'leaning Fruit 72 

Cost of Picking and Packing 72 

Contract Picking 73 

Citrons i ... S9 

Chinese Lemons..;,,. ...^wi; !<& 

Citrus Leaf and Fruit Sc^iUe 95 

Du Iloi (Grange 22 

Drained— Nursery 32 

Instances Apart for Trees 45 

Distances for Clieek Bows— Quincunx.. 49 
Distances for Check Rows— .Septuple ... 50 

Dormant .Stage 51 

Damp Straw for Packing Boots 52 

Depth of Planting 54 

Die Back 66 

Diversitled Planting 68 

Dry— I'ruii (;ialhered When 71 

E-xpeiise of Propagating House 30 

Exposure— Orange Orchard 4U 

luisiost Method of Clearing Land 41 

I-conomize in lUn'ing Trees 43 

l':arth— Settling in Planting 54 

Enemies to Young Orange Plants 31 

Enetiiies of the Orange Tree 64-93 

Economy Wins £8 

Eureka Lemon 68 



vi 



l'A(iK 



Florida ( >iaii,m'> 

Fillinii' l*ro])a.uatinj>- lioxes -21 

Frosts— Avoiding; 40 

Fuel from riearod Tiaiul 41 

False Fcononi}^ in l^nyiiiu 'Vroos 4;> 

Filliiifi Plantiiifi' ITolos o4 

Furrow Trri<iatioii oS 

Ferliliziiiii' <>- 

Fertiliziuo- l»y Water 

l-'ertili/.ing l>^' "Watea- not SnlVieient 

Funjius, or Smut ')<> 

Force Pump <i7 

Fruit — Tliinninu" '!<! 

I'-ruit — After rroduction tin 

Fruit— Not Left too Long 71 

Freight s on I 'm it 7;'. 

Frost on T^emons SI 

Q-erm illation of Seeds 'M 

( Jround — Nursei'V — Tjaying OH" ."52 

(J rafting oit 

CJrowtli— Periods of 51 

Gopliers ()4 

(irasslioppers (i.") 

(ium Disease <i<> 

(JradcM-, Orange 72 

(lenoa Iamikjh S(j 

< Jarcelon's J\nol)l)\- Lemon S(; 

H^J'^iOfiassa Orange 22 

Ifolcs for Trees, Digging ');; 

jrigli Pruning (iO 

Hints About l*runing <i2 

Helps to Tide Over tiS 

Introduction of tlie Orange in Calif <> 

Inserting Llie Seed 2!) 

Insects — Nui'sery Free From -U 

Inse(;ts Injurious to ('itriis Trees !>■"! 

J iisccticides !i7 

Inlluence of Stock on lUid J'S 

Indications of l^uds 'M 

" Newb' Planted 'J'i'ees ."»! 

" Want of Irrigation 'u 

Ii ligation of Xurs(M-y ■".4 

" " Newly Planted Trees r.l 

" N'arious Methods r)S 

of Orchard T)?; 

A Matter of iMlucation r)7 

" Season .')(; 

" l''ertili/.alion to 1)0 consid('r(Ml (l-'l 

Imi)lem(!nts for Jiudding .Itl 

" " deal ing liand 41 

" liHying off Orchard.,.. 14 
*' Pruning Gl 



Konuh Orange 22 

Kid (nilove Orange 22 

Key to Septuple S^^stem 50 

Knobb^^ TiCmon Sf; 

Lowlands ](i 

Location of Orange Orchard... 40 

Tiand — Clearing and Preparing 41 

Laying Olf Nursery :]2 

" " ()rchard 4o 

Lacerated Roots 5:'> 

Low System of Pruning 00 

liOng Wait 08 

Lemons ,sl 

" —Importations S2 

" —Propagation and Culture.." s2-8.j 

" — Pei>ort of Committee on .s2 

" —Analyses S:i 

" —Tests s;i 

" — Biulding on Orange Stock 8.5 

" — Budded N'arieties 81 

" — Lisbon Z- 

" —Preparing for Market 8(i 

— Sulphuring '. 87 

" —Curing 87 

Lemon Peel Scale 95 

Lisbon Lemon .st; 

Limes 89 

M><1t^i<^ Lands ]i 

Mesas 12 

Maltese Blood Oranges 22 

Mediterranean Sweet Oranges 21 

Mandarin Oranges 22 

Moi.sture— Danger of Too Much :iO 

Marking Trees 4:i 

Methods Established of Laying Ofl" 4:1 

Misnomer Corrected 48 

Mesa Irrigation ,5«» 

Mulching— Propagating lioxes oO 

" —Orchard 59 

Manures at Hand t3;j 

^Tarkets for ]<T-uit 7'i 

Nicaraguan Orange 22 

N 1 1 rse vy — V 1 a n t i n g 'i 1 

'* —Location of .'A 

" — (ieneral Ketfuirements :-;2 

" — Taking Trees from 51 

Number of Trees to Acie— .Square 4t> 

" " " " " -Quincunx... 48 

" " " " " —Septuple 51 

New Growth 54 

Numbering Oranges 72 



INDEX. 



vii 



PAGE 

Observations to Begin With 1 

Objects and Advantiii^esof Propagatini^- 

House -jO 

Outcome of Propagation 31 

Original Buds -jN 

Orange Oreliard— Location 40 

Over Irrigation •">7 

Old^Vay of Irrigating ">s 

Orange Tree in Bearing OH 

Overbear— Tendency to '>!) 

Olivia Lemon os 

Protit of Orange Culture li-Hi 

Paper Rind St. Michael Orange -2 

Pumalo Orange 22-si» 

Propagation of Oranges -7 

Propagating House - i 

Preparing Laud 41 

Planting Xursery 33 

Plantmg an Orchard 5:5 

Planting Chain 44 

lV)r < iuineunx 47 

Jjoard, 5;! 

Paddling Trees 'rl 

Periods of <4io\\"th ol 

Pruning Xursory '-'A 

Bud Sprout 3s 

" Additional, Planted Trees 'A 

—Objects r^i 

—Two Systems 00 

Plowing Land , 42 

Orchard .3.) 

Poison for Gophers ij4 

Props 70 

Picking Season 71 

Picking, Packing and Shipping 70 

Picker— The Best 71 

Packing 71 

Packing Boxes 72 

Preservation of Fruit 70 

Pergande's Orange Scale 05 

Quincunx System 47 

'* —Misapplication of Term ... 4o 

Retrospect of Orange Culture 2 

Riverside Navel Orange 21 

Room for Access and Working Xursery .")2 

Rebudding :;,s 

Rocks— Look Out For 4u 

Rectangle— Establishing 44 

Rules for Computing Xo. of Trees.. 40-4S-.31 

Rules for Pruning ni 

Roots— Lacerated 

Rabl)its ijo 



PACtK 

Red Scale 00 

Rii)ening — Time of 70 

Rejuvenating Old Trees 74 

Red Scale 01 

"of Florida 0-t 

Remedies for Scale 07 

Status of Orange Industry 13 

Stiitistics of (Grange Groves 14 

Striker, The 2S 

Seeds, Orange 2S 

" I'^Nctracting 2s 

Stamper, A 20 

Sprinkling Propagating Boxes 20 

StOL-k — Condition for liiulding 30 

" —Age for Budding 3(5 

Cutting and Tnserting!Bud 37 

S^'stems of Arranging, Three 4") 

Square System 4.") 

Septuple SN'stem 48-00 

Soil for I*ropagating 27 

" " Xurser\' ;;2 

" Orange Orchard 4o 

" — Prei)aration for Xursery 32 

—Condition for ]>aliing .12 

Standard Lowered by Repeated Bud- 
ding oS 

Smut on Orange Trees Oii 

Sprayer , 07 

Sorting Fruit 71 

Staking — S(jiuire, Quincunx, Septu- 
ple 44-47_-,o 

Selecting Trees 42 

Seasons— Various for Transplanting .31 

Sacking Trees -y^ 

Settling Farth in Planting .34 

Sprouts — Remo^'ing .54 

"Water ., 3S 

Suckers .34 

Slow Starting 5.3 

Sub-Irrigation ,3,s 

Stiuirrels 0-3 

Squirrel Fxterminators G-S 

Scale Insects 0-3 

Seedling Trees— When They Yield 08 

Seedlings — Productive Capacity , . . . . 70 

Shipping Fruit 73 

Sicily Lemons 82 

Sweet Rind Lemons 80 

Soft Orange Scale 0.3 

Spraying Trees 97 

Tbin-Skinued Si. .Michael orange 22 

Tangerine Orange 22 



viii 



I^sDEX. 



PAGE 

Topographj' of Nursery.... , 32 

Timo to Begin Clearing..., 12 

" for Planting Seed.s 27 

" Budding .T) 

lA)sl in IManting , .51 

" of Pruning 01 

Irvine for Budding ;!G 

Tying Stocks .".7 

Tiding Over the Long Wait (jS 

Tendency to Overbear (»!» 

Thinning Fruit IJO 

" — .Sliort Cut 70 

Troe^5 — .Selecting J2 

" —Good Way t<> Judge 4.3 

Trimming Trees Before Transplanting. 57 

Transplanting — Tliree Methods .57 

Thumb Pruning 01 

Traps for Gophers (>") 

Triangular Arrangement oO 



PAGE 

XJnneGessar.y Stakes, Pull up 48 

V^^i'i^'^i^^s of Oranges 2.3 

" —Designating 54 

"Wilson's Best Orange 22 

Wolfskin's 22 

Weeding Propagating Boxes 31 

Wldney Transplanter 33 

'Weeds—Nursery Free From , 34 

Word to the Wii^e 30 

Water for Orange Orcliard i(\ 

Winds ■ 40 

Wash i ng Trees [)i-(j6-{)7 

Wrapi>ing Stocks 5i 

Water Sprouts 5t 

White Scale m 

Working, Watching and Waiting 67 

When Budded Trees Yield (>8 

Seedling " 68 



PART I. 

The Subject Generally Discussed, 



THE ORANGE,. 

ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

A FEW OBSERVATIONS TO BEGIN WITH. 



There is that about the cultivation of the 
orange which attracts people. Call it a 
glamour or what you will, the fact re- 
mains that many who have hardly given 
a second thought to horticulture their 
lives long, seeing the orange tree, lall be- 
neath its spell, and become henceforth its 
most ardent devotees;— toiling for it, 
spending their money for it, waiting long 
and patiently for it, and even undergoing 
privations that they may possess it. I do 
not know that this subtle influence is 
capable of analysis; I only know that it 
exists. But sometimes in thinking upon 
this subject the fancy has struck me that 
the orange tree knows very well how to 
gauge a man— has the faculty, so to speak, 
of approaching him on every side at once. 

Is he a lover of the beautiful? Then he 
must be delighted with its trim body and 
symmetrical branches; its dark evergreen 
foliage, with the yellowish new growth 
peeping out a-top; its bloom that rivals 
the tuberose in delicacy and fragrance; 
its fruit like apples of gold in pictures of 
silver. 

Has he a fancy for out-door life? The 
tree invites him to share with it the fresh 
air and sunshine. 

Does he possess the true horticultural 
instinct? — does he like to see things grow 
and make them grow? The orange re- 
wards him doubly for every attention he 
bestows. 



Does his grosser nature crave the good' 
things of this world? No fruit is more 
luscious. 

And finally, is there, underlying the 
poetry, the industry, the skill, the appe- 
tite of the man, a shade— just a shade— of 
cupidity? There the orange tree touches-^ 
him again. 

You see it has measured him very accu- 
rately; it knows his strong points and his 
weak points; it averages him and takes 
him for what he is worth. His own wife 
couldn't have done the thing better. 

In most parts of the United States the^ 
tendency of population is toward the city. 
Not only does the farmer's boy leave the^ 
country to seek out the coveted clerkship^, 
but the farmer himself, arrived at a com- 
fortable affluence, is often disposed to 
move into town, either on the pretext of 
giving;. the children a better schooling, or 
that he may engage in trade, or because 
the farm labors and cares are too arduous 
for his years. In Califarnia the move- 
ment is in the opposite direction. People 
go from the city to the country. Our fruit 
colonies are filled up with retired pro- 
fessional and business men. In some in- 
stances they are men that have adopted 
farming as a sanitary measure; but again, 
many are to be found in their very prime 
and vigor who lead this life purely as a 
matter of choice. Some of them, possessed 
of wealth, education and refinement, seek. 



2 



THE OEANGE; 



the country for the delights nowhere else 
to be found, surrounding themselves 
there with all the elegancies of a city 
home. And if upon occasion the rich 
man choose to pull ofit' his coat and bear 
the brunt of toil, who shall say that he 
will not enjoy his dinner the better and 
sleep the sounder o' nights thereaftei ? 

The Held proves invitmg to people of all 
"Classes and conditions. The 3'oung man, 
just starting out to make his way in the 
world, cultivates his trees and vines along- 
side the superannuated minister; and 
across the way is the farm of a lady who 
quit school-teaching because she tired of 
its drudgery. Many men who continue 
in business or professional practice in 
town have their villas in the suburbs, or 
their countr}^ homes of easy access, where 
they live beneath their own vine and fig- 
tree, and cultivate their own orange. 
And if long-time residents are thus drawn 
away from the city, attracted by the 
-charm of out-door life and the pleasure 



of horticulture in this semi-tropical cli- 
mate, what wonder that many who come 
from the snow-bound East and North are 
captivated and impelled in the same di- 
rection ! 

Orange culture must continue as it has 
begun, an industiy suited to the most in- 
telligent and refined people. It is better 
adapted to small farms than large. It 
produces better results under the eye and 
hand of the master than when dele- 
gated to hired labor. As it requires both 
skill and industry, it gives healthful oc- 
cupation to the mind as well as the body. 
While the growing of an orange orchard 
involves something of an investment, 
supplemented by several years of waiting, 
and no small amount of labor and care, 
the reward at last is ample. If one elect 
to bridge over the waiting and work by 
purchasing a grove already' in bearing, he 
will have to pay pretty good wages to the 
man that built the bridge. 



CHAPTER II. 

A RETROSPECT, AND A QLTE8TI0N ANSWERED. 



Will it pay to raise oranges? Yes, and 
no. It will pay to raise good fruit; it will 
not pay to raise poor. Simple as this 
|)ropositiou appears when reduced to 
print, it has taken a good many of us 
here in California a long time to find it 
out. While experience has already dem- 
onstrated that this survival of the fittest 
is inevitable, we will yet be compelled to 
acknowledge that it is reasonable and 
just. The time was, and not so long ago 
either, when many of our people rushed 
into orange growing as they would have 
rushed into a speculation in stocks. Car- 
ried away by the prospect of great re- 
wards, they engaged in the industry 
blindly and recklessly:— planted orchards 
in localities not at all suited to them; 
planted scrubby or infested trees; planted 
l>eyond their means; planted without a 
knowledge of orange growing, and some- 
times with no natural taste for horticul- 



ture; planted, planted, planted anywhere, 
anyhow, anything, if only they might 
possess themselves of an orange grove. 

Taking advantage of this furor, the 
few nurserymen that carried citrus stocks 
put their prices up to a dollar or two a 
tree, sold out, got rich. Then the frenzy 
of speculation extended to the propaga- 
tion of orange seeds for relays of nur- 
series, and a wider extension of planta- 
tions. Nursery projects were inaugurated, 
ranging through eyery degree from the 
hundred-acre joint stock enterprise to the 
row of oyster cans which viaicrfamilias 
established in the back yard to augment 
the family income. From this planting 
came trees that were good, bad and in- 
different, of course, but the average was, 
if possible, worse than the preceding sup- 
ply. And when this heterogeneous stock 
was fairly on the market, — then the del- 
uge; or rather, the contrary. 



ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



3 



The dry season of 187G-7 came on, fol- 
lowed by the wave of hard times which 
swept across the country. People who 
had planted on insufficient capital were 
the first to feel the pressure. Many were 
obliged to surrender their places. Joint- 
stock nursery projects failed. Some nur- 
serymen sold out, or were closed out, and 
left the country. Thus the furor of orange 
planting received a check. Nursery stock 
being of slow sale, began to fall under 
the operation of the law of the survival of 
the fittest. Most of the orange orchards 
already planted were too valuable to be 
abandoned, no matter what the fate of the 
planter might be, so somebody stepped in 
to carry them forward. Thus it was that, 
through all the times of depression and 
discouragement, the industry itself went 
steadily and surely forward. The un- 
precedented frosts which occurred in the 
winter of 1879-80, gave a rude awakening 
to some people who planted in low, cold 
places. Not only was the nursery stock 
frosted to the ground, but in many in- 
stances five and six-year-old trees were 
destroyed. The devastation among lem- 
ons and limes was even greater than 
among oranges. These frosts demon- 
strated that there were certain localities 
in this country'- not at all adapted to orange 
culture. Some people, a little more fortu- 
nate in their locations, managed to weath- 
er through the cold year, and even two or 
three cold years afterwards, but for them 
there still remained a rude awakening 
when they found that their trees, having 
reached the bearing age, were capable of 
producing only an inferior quality of fruit. 

The season of 1882-3 was the most de- 
pressing for the orange industry that we 



have ever known. The trees set unusu- 
ally full, and this alone had a tendency to 
dwarf the fruit and detract frotn its good 
qualities. Then there were late frosts so 
severe that some of the fruit was nipped, 
and its juices injured or totally destroyed. 
When the market opened the weather 
was cold and rainy, and people were in no 
mood for eating sour fruit. Prices went 
down. Some producers and dealers who 
shipped inferior oranges, in spite of the 
unfavorable outlook, found that they had 
their trouble for their pains and a freight 
bill to settle besides. Then it was that 
some superficial people began to inquire, 
"Will orange growing pay?" "Haven't 
we been deluded all this time in thinking 
it a remunerative industry?" 

Those who got started right; who plant- 
ed on high, warm, mellow soils; who took 
good care of their trees, and followed 
orange growing as an industry, not a 
speculation, are the ones who suffered no 
loss through the time of depression, and 
who are now firmly grounded in the belief 
that orange growing pays. Last season 
while the average oranges of the lower 
valley were going at a dollar a box, and a 
slow sale at that; while many trees hung 
full of little fruit, not salable at any price, 
I talked with an orange grower of Pasa- 
dena, who was sending off his large, 
luscious Washington or Riverside Navels, 
and realizing therefor $3.50 to $4 a box,— 
"And if I had a hundred thousand boxes," 
he said, "T could sell every one of them 
at these prices. Will orange growing 
pay? W^ell, I rather think it will. It is 
to-day the best enterprise a man can en- 
gage in." 



CHAPTER. IIL 

ANTIQUITY OF THE CITRUS FAMILY. 

Over fifty years ago Gallesio wrote, in are only to be found in treasured collec- 

French, a learned work on "Citrus Cul- tions. From this work I am able to glean 

ture," which, in more recent times, the some curious facts, as well as some very 

Horticultural Society of Florida translated ingenious and erudite surmises about the 

and published in English. Both original earliest record of the citrus family, 

and translation are now out of print, and Galleseo holds that the lemon and or- 



4 



THE ORANGE; 



ange originated in Southern Asia, and in 
that portion of the East Indies lying be- 
yond the Ganges. Up to and including 
the earlier centuries of the Empire of the 
Cfesars, these fruits had not been brought 
from those climates where they were in- 
digenous. They grew without culture in 
the native groves, the hand of man not 
liaving yet appropriated them as orna- 
ments for his garden. The fruit was even 
unknown to the Romans, a people who in 
the age of their triumph sought out every 
luxury which ihe world of their conquest 
afforded. Pliny, in the account of his In- 
dian voyage, makes no mention of either 
orange or citron. Other writers on this re- 
gion, such as Nearchus, one of Alexander's 
captains, and Arianus and lambolus are 
equally silent on the subject of citrus 
fruits. 

To tbe Arabs who, under the leadership 
of Mohammed, extended their conquests 
into Asia and Africa much faster than any 
people before them, belongs the credit of 
first disseminating the orange. They ac- 
climatized tbe trees in Syria, Africa, Spain 
and some European islands. Occupying 
a position advantageous and favorable to 
the commercial spirit and love of luxury 
which succeeded the fury of conquest, the 
Arabs naturally learned of and appreci- 
ated many exotic plants peculiar to tlie 
regions they had conquered or to adjoin- 
ing countries. They were fond of medi- 
cine and agriculture, in which they espe- 
cially- excelled. To them we owe the 
knowledge of many plants, perfumes and 
Oriental aromatics, such as musk, nut- 
megs, mace and cloves. In their medi- 
cines we for the first time hear of the 
chemical change known as distillation, 
which appears to have originated in the 
desire to steal from nature the perfumes 
of flowers and aroma of fruits. It is cer- 
tain that the orange was known to their 
physicians from the commencement of 
the fourth century of the Hegira. The 
Damascene has given in his Antidotary a 
recipe for making oil of oranges and their 
seeds (oleum de citrangala et oleum de cit- 
ranoulorum seminibus). Another Arabian 
physician, Avicenna, employed the juice 
of the bigarade (bitter orange) in a medi- 
cinal syrup which he called alkedere. 
The orange was from the first valued not 



alone for the beauty of its foliage and 
quality of its fruit and for its- medicinal 
uses, but also for the aroma of its fl.owers, 
of which essences were made. 

Abd-Allatif, an Arabian writer of th& 
twelfth century of our era, says: " Th& 
round citron {otrodj modaivar) was brought 
from India since the year 300 of the Hegira 
(A. D. 922). It was first sowed in Oman 
(part of Arabia), from thence carried to 
Irok (part of old Persia) and Syria, be- 
coming very common m the houses of 
Tarsus and other frontier cities of Syria, 
at Antioch, upon the coasts of Syria, in 
Palestine and in Egypt. One knew it not 
before, but it lost much of its sweet odor 
and fine color which it had in India, be- 
cause it had not the same climate, soil and 
all that which is peculiar to that country." 

The lemon appeared perhaps a little la- 
ter in these different countries, for we see 
no mention of it either in the Damascene 
or in Ayicenna, but its description meets 
the eye in works of Arabian writers of the 
twelfth century, especially Ebn Beitar,. 
who gave it an article in his dictionary of 
simple remedies. 

The Arabs invaded Sicily about the be- 
ginning of the ninth century, and planted 
the orange tree in that island. The citrine 
apples of Leon d'Ostia date from 1002, and 
were regarded as objects rare and precious 
enough to be offered as gifts to princes. 
Nicolas Special is, in his history of Sicily,, 
written in the fourteenth century, recount- 
ing the devastation by the army of the Duke 
of Calabria, in 1383, in the vicinity of Paler- 
mo, says that it did not spare even the 
trees of sour apples {pommes acides), 
called by the people arangi, which had 
adorned, since old time, the royal palace 
of Cubba. 

After the Arabians, the Crusaders were 
the next agency for the extension of citrus 
culture. They entered Asia Minor as con- 
querors, and thence spread themselves as 
traders into all parts of Asia. They were 
not mere soldiers, but brave men drawn 
from their families by religious enthusi- 
asm, and who, in consequence, would 
hold fast to their country and their homes. 
They could not see without coveting these 
charming trees which embellish the vicin- 
ity of Jerusalem, with whose exquisite 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOENIA. 



5 



fruits nature had favored the climates of 
Asia. 

It was at this time that Europe enriched 
its orchards by many of these trees, and 
that the French* princes carried into their 
country the damson, the St. Catharine (a 
pear), the apricot from Alexandria, and 
other species indigenous to those regions. 
Sicilians, Genoese and Provengals trans- 
ported to Palermo, St. Remo and Hyeres 
lemon and orange trees. Jaques de Vitry, 
a historian of the thirteenth century, who 
had been in Palestine with the Crusaders, 
and who accordingly speaks ex cathedra, 
has this to say of the subject: " Besides 
many trees cultiyated in Italy, Genoa, 
France and other parts of Europe, we find 
here (in Palestine) species peculiar to the 
country, and of which some are sterile 
and others bear fruit. Here are trees bear- 
ing very beautiful apples — the color of cit- 
ron—upon which is distictly seen the mark 
of a man's tooth. This has given them 
the common name of pomme cVAdam 
>( Adam's apple); others produced sour 
fruit, of a disagreeable taste, which are 
called limons. Their juice is used for sea- 
soning food, because it is cool, pricks the 
palate, and provokes appetite. * * * 
There is a species of cedar called cedre 
maritime, whose plant is small but pro- 
ductive, giving very fine fruits as large as 
a man's head. Some call them citrons, or 
pommes citrons. These fruits are formed 
of a triple substance, and have three dif- 
ferent tastes. The first is warm, the sec- 
ond is temperate, the last is cold. Some 
say that this is the fruit of which God 
commanded in Leviticus: ' Take you the 
first day of the year the fruit of the finest 
tree.' We see in this country another 
species of citrine apples, borne by small 
trees, and of which the cool part is less of 
a disagreeable and acid taste; these the 
natives call orenges.^^ 

From Naples and Sicily the orange and 
lemon trees must have been carried into 
the Roman States, into Sardinia and Cor- 
sica and to Malta. The islands of the 
Archipelago first received them, because, 
belonging in great part to the Genoese and 
Venetians, it is probable they were the in- 
termediate points whence the Crusaders 
of Genoa and Venice transported the 
plants to their homes. 



The use of the lemon as seasoning for 
food, brought from Palestine to Liguria, 
to Provence and to Sicily, penetrated to 
the interior of Italy and France. The 
taste for confections was propagated in 
Europe with the introduction of sugar, 
and this delicate food became at once a 
necessary article to men in easy circum- 
stances, and a luxury upon all tables. It 
was above all as confections that the Ag- 
rumi (lemons) entered into commerce, 
and we see by the records of Savona that 
they were sent into cold parts of Italy, 
where people were very greedy for them. 

After haying cultivated these species 
for the use made of their fruits, they soon 
cultivated them as ornaments for the gar- 
den. The monks began to fill with these 
trees the courts of their monasteries, in 
climates suited to their continual growth, 
and soon one found no convent not sur- 
rounded by them. Indeed, the courts and 
gardens of these houses show us now trees 
of great age, and it is said that the old 
tree, of which we now see a register in the 
court of the convent of St. Sabina at 
Rome, was planted by St. Dominick about 
the year 1200. This fact has no other 
foundation than tradition, but this tradi- 
tion, preserved for many centuries, not 
only among the monks of the convent, 
but also among the clei'gy of Rome, is re- 
ported by Augustin Gallo, who, in 1559, 
speaks of this orange as a tree existing 
since time immemorial. If we refuse to 
credit its planting to St. Dominick, we must 
at least refer it to a period soon after — that 
is, to the end of the thirteenth century, at 
the latest. 

In their spread among the most civile 
ized peoples of the earth the orange and 
lemon finally penetrated into the colder 
latitudes, and perhaps we owe to the desire 
of enjoying their flowers and fruit the in- 
vention of hot-houses, afterwards called in 
France orangeries. This agricultural lux- 
ury was unknown in Europe before the 
introduction of the citron tree. In the 
fourteenth century people had begun to 
erect buildings designed to create for ex- 
otic plants an artificial climate. But at 
the beginning of the fifteenth century 
orangeries passed from king's gardens to 
those of the people, chiefly in countries 
where they were not compelled to heat 







THE ORANGE; 



them by tire. Aboiil llio middle of the 
seventeenth century this luxury was very 
general, and we see distinguished by their 
magnitieenoe and gradeur the orangeries 
of the [Farneso family at Parma; of the 
Cardinal Xantes, Aldobrandini and Pio 
at Rome; of the Elector Palatine at Hei- 
delberg; and of Louis XIII in France. 
Ii\ all the civilized parts of Kurope the 
orangerie is now considered an embellish- 
ment necessary to all country seats_ and 
houses of pleasure. 

In nomenclature oranges and lemons 
had a most difficult time in establishing 
themselves. The lemon tree, first brought 
into Egj'pt as a variety of citron, was for 
a long time designated by European win- 
ters under the generic name of citrus, al- 
though in Italy and the south of France 
the people had known it from the begin- 
ning by the name of limon. W9 find in 
botanical works citrus limon or mala h- 
vxonia and sometimes citrus meclica. 

In Arabia the word first applied to the 
orange was arinclj. This in Syria w^as 
modified to narengi. 

The orange appeared in Italy under the 
name of orenges, which the people modi- 
fied, according to the pronunciations of 
the different sections, into aringo, naran- 
zo, aranza, aranzo, citrone, cetrangolo, 
melarancOy melangolo, arancio. The Pro- 
vencals also received this tree under the 
name of orenges, and have changed it 
from time to time, in different provinces. 



into arratigi, airange, oreiuje, and finallr,. 

ORANGE. 

During several centuries the Latin au- 
thors found themselves embarrassed in^ 
designating this fruit, which had no name 
in their language. The first who spoke of 
it used a phrase indicating its character- 
istics, accompanying it with the popular 
name of arangi, Latinized into orenges, 
orangias, arantium.. Jaques de A'itry 
calls oranges poma citrina, adding, " The 
Arabs call them orenges.'''' Nicolas Spe- 
cialis designates them as acri pom,orum 
arbores, observing that the people call 
them arangias. Mathews Silvaticus first 
gave to the orange the name of citrangu- 
lurn. This last designation was received 
in the language of science for more than a 
century. Finally, little by little, were ad- 
opted the vulgar Latinized names in use 
among other writers, such as arangium, 
arancium, anarantiuw., nerantium^ anran- 
tium, pomen aureum. 

The Greeks followed in the same steps. 
They have either Grecianized the name of 
narenge, which was in use among Syrian 
Arabs, or they received it from the Crusa- 
ders from the Holy Land; and have ad- 
opted it in their language, calling it neran- 
zion. 

In this day and age we are satisfied to 
call the fruit in English okange and 
lemon; in French, orange and citron; in 
German, orange, citrone; in Spanish, na~ 
ran/a, limon. 



CHAPTER IV. 

INTRODUCTION OF THE ORANGE IN CALIFORNIA. 



Father Palou, the historian of the early 
California Missions, sa3's; 

"On the 10th of August [1771] the Fa- 
ther Friar Pedro Cambon and Father 
Angel Somera, guarded by ten soldiers 
witli the muleteers and beasts! requisite 
to carry the necessaries, set out from San 
Diego, and traveled northerly by the same 
route as the former expedition for Mon- 
terey had gone. After proceeding about 
forty leagues they arrived at the river 
called Temblores [the Los Angeles river], 
and while thoy were in the act of examin- 



ing the ground in order to fix a proper 
place for the mission, a multitude of In- 
dians, all armed and headed l)y two cap- 
tains, presented themselves, sotting up 
horrid yells, and seeming determined to 
oppose the establishment of the mission. 
The Fathers, fearing that war would en- 
sue, took out a piece of cloth with the 
image of our Lady de los Dolores, and 
held it up to the barbarians. This was no- 
sooner done than the whole were quiet,, 
being subdued by the sight of this most 
precious image; and throwing on th 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



T 



ground their bows and arrows, the two 
captains came running witli great haste to 
lay the beads which they brought about 
their necks at the feet of the sovereign 
queen, as proof of their entire regard; 
manifesting at the same time that they 
wished to be at peace with us. They then 
informed the whole of the neighborhood 
of what had taken place; and the people 
in large numbers, men, women and chil- 
dren, soon came t© see the Holy Virgin; 
bringing food which they put before her, 
thinking she required to eat as others. In 
this manner the Gentiles of the mission of 
San Gabriel were so entirely changed that 
they frequented the establishment without 
reserve, and hardly knew how much to 
manifest their pleasure that the Spaniards 
had come to settle in their country. Un- 
der these favorable auspices the Fathers 
proceeded to found a mission with the ac- 
customed ceremonies; and celebrated the 
first mass under a tree on the nativity of 
the Virgin, the eighth of September, 1771/" 

In the order of establishment San Ga- 
briel was fourth among the missions of 
Upper California. By reason of its rich 
soil and abundance of water, and its large 
number of neophytes brought i nto service, 
it soon advanced to the front rank in pro- 
ductiveness and wealth. 

At San Gabriel Mission was formed the 
nucleus of California orange-growing. As 
to the time and circumstances of the first 
planting, history is silent. The archives 
of the Mission church, which alone could 
be accepted as absolute authority, are lost. 
Tradition even is not much to be relied 
upon among that class of people who have 
lived longest in and about the Mission. 
An old gardener, whom the writer found 
in the Mission orchard on the occasion of a 
recent visit, shrugged his shoulders in the 
aggravating, non-committal way of his 
race when questioned as to the age of the 
trees. 

'* Tienen ynultos, nudfos anos, Senorf' 
They are many, many years old, sir. I 
don't know how many. I think more 
than seventy. He underestimated their 
years. 

Father Bot, the priest of the Mission, 
fixes the planting of the first orange or- 
chard at about the year 1S04. The present 
church building was erected in that year, 



and, reasoning from analogy, he concludes, 
that the site of the grove must have been 
chosen with reference to the building. He 
thinks the trees were propagated from 
seed brought from San Rafael in Lower 
California. 

Col. J. J. Warner, our " oldest inhabit- 
ant,'' settled in Los Angeles county in 
1S31. At the time of his coming the or- 
ange trees in the Mission garden were- 
twenty-five or thirty years old and had 
long been in bearing. Tliis agrees with 
Father Bot's calculation as to the lime of 
their planting. 

Three several Fathers Sanjhex admin- 
istered the afiairs of San Gabriel Missioii 
at different periods, and to the first of 
these. Father Tomas, belongs the distinc- 
tion of introducing the orange. That h& 
had an abiding faith in tlie success of his 
horticultural venture is attested by the 
fact that he imported iron with which to 
enclose the orchard. This iron, however,, 
was never used, owing probably to the 
death or removal of the enterprising; 
Padre, and after rusting in uselessness for 
some years at the Mission, a porliou of it 
was purchased by Don Luis Vignes {1834) 
and brought to the city of Los Augeles.- 
Here it was used to enclose the second 
orange orchai-d iu the vState. It is said. 
Ihat Don Luis procured from the Mission, 
thirlj^-fiye large trees, which he trans- 
planted to his place on Aliso street, near 
the historic Aliso (sycamore) tree, from, 
which the street derives its name. He es- 
tablished at tirst a sort of exotic garden,, 
enclosing his clump of oranges tightly 
and rooting the space with wire-netting. 
Within the enclosure he kept a flock of 
quail. Later, the Don increased the num- 
ber of his trees until he was the possessor- 
of a considerable grove. But he did not 
follow his expensive method of fencing 
and roofing throughout. 

Other orchards followed. The most no- 
table was that of William Wolfskill, plant- 
ed in the city of Los Angeles, seven years 
after that of Don Luis Vignes. There was- 
another four or five miles north of the 
Mission, known as La Uuerta del Cucde,. 
The Garden of the Twin, which, with one 
or two intermediate transfers, finally pass- 
ed into the hands of Don Benito Wilson j. 



THE OEANGE; 



by whom it was carefully nurtured and 
extended by new plantations. 

But between the planting of the ©riginal 
orchard at the Mission San Gabriel and 
the several groves above mentioned a long 
period must have transpired — perhaps 
twentj^ or twenty-five years, during which 
the Mission orchard was the sole repre- 
sentative of this fruit in California. Even 
after the extension of the industry, for 
many years oranges held no place among 
the recognized products of the country. 
Mr. Alexander Forbes, who wrote one of 
the earliest works on California— a book 
printed in England in 1835 — cites wheat, 
maize, barley, pease, beans, potatoes, 
hemp, grapes, olives and grasses as the 
principal crops, but makes no mention of 
oi-anges. 

Ex-Governor John G. Downey, writing 
of the early cultivation of the orange, says: 

" In those days, though there was plen- 
ty of energy and intelligence among the 
Spanish pioneers, it was a difficult under- 
taking for the ranchero to build a fence to 
protect his orchard from the multitude of 
wild stock that surrounded him, even to 
the door of his pueblo home. * * * 

** The orchard of orange trees at San Ga- 
briel was scarcely in bearing when Don 
Luis Vignes planted his orchard in Los 
Angeles. Next followed that of William 
Wolfskin, and next, that of Don Manuel 
Requena. These little orchards were en- 
closed by an adobe wall, as were those of 
the Missions of San Gabriel and San Fer- 
nando. Many of the old families followed 
these examples by planting a few trees in 
their respective court-yards. I can safely 
say there was not a tree planted with a 
view to profit, and not an orange sold 
until long after the advent of the Ameri- 
cans. The fruit was cultivated for home 
use, and for the use of friends less fortu- 
nately situated. 

*'Inthe year 1853 Matthew Keller and 
Dr. Ilalsey obtained seeds from Central 
America and Hawaii, and planted nur- 
series. Dr. Halsey^'s nursery was the 
most extensive. While this plantation 
was very young, the doctor was crossed in 
some love matters, studied Andrew Jack- 
son Davis more thoroughly than he did 
Downing, and went off on a spiritual mis- 
sion East, leaving his nursery in care of 



Judge I. S. K. Ogier. The latter sold the 
nursery for a song to William Wolfskill, 
whose place was adjoining, and the or- 
chard now the property of Miss Francisca 
Wolfskill is the result. It is a very pretty 
property — perhaps the largest bearing or- 
ange orchard in the United States. At 
least I have not seen any as large in Flor- 
ida, Louisiana or Cuba. It is a pleasure 
to look at, is a source of great profit, and 
could not be in better hands. 

The orchard of Mr. Wilson was once a 
portion of the Mission of San Gabriel. In 
the unconstitutional sale of the missions 
this portion fell to Hugo Reed. Mr. Wil- 
son bought it in 1852 of Reed's widow. 
There were then on the place several 
fruitful trees, which are still in vigorous 
bearing, and will be for several genera- 
tions. Mr. Wilson has industriously and 
intelligently added to them; not at any 
great cost, for he raised his trees in his 
own nursery, and continues to raise them, 
so that he has them always on hand with- 
out expense." 

The orchard of William Wolfskill, al- 
luded to above, was no doubt the first that 
was planted in California with an idea of 
profit. Mr. Wolfskin's neighbors ridi- 
culed him, saying that he would get no 
fruit in his lifetime. It was a severe trial 
of patience to maintain the trees through 
all the years requisite to bring them into 
bearing, and all that for a mere experi- 
ment. At the same time vineyards of 
three or four years' growth were paying 
handsomely, with no more labor. This 
fact came near tipping the balance against 
the trees, but Mr. Wolfskill's German te- 
nacity finally pie vailed, and the trees 
were brought to fruition. He lived to en- 
joy his oranges for twenty years, and they 
gave him, some years, an income of a 
thousand dollars an acre. The last crop 
disposed of in his lifetime from about 
twenty-eight acres sold on the trees for 
^25,000. 

From 1857 to 1862 orange-growing was 
greatly checked by the insects, which 
caused an almost total failure of the fruit. 
But in 1862 this pest abated, and there was 
a good crop. There were then in the 
whole State only about 25,000 trees, two- 
thirds of which were in the Wolfskill or- 
chard. 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



9 



Since 1862 the spirit of modern progress 
has been infused into orange-growing, 
and the area of plantations has increased 
with marvelous rapidity. In 1880 the en- 
tire number of orange trees in the State 
Avas estimated at one million, a quarter of 
which were in bearing. In 1882 the bear- 
ing trees had increased to half a million. 
The ratio of increase for the years 1883 
and 1884 has probably been fully as great, 
-and, at this writing, we may say there are 
a million trees in the State that are yield- 
ing oranges. 

The original orchard of Father Tomas 
Sanchez, of blessed memory, still remains 
in the Mission garden at San Gabriel. It 
IS a decrepit old patriarch still lingering to 
witness the glory of its tribe. The iuclo- 
sure comprises about six acres, and it is 
probable that 400 trees constituted the 
original plantation. Of this number less 
than thirty survive. I wish that I could 
say that these trees, now more than eighty 
years old, remain in a fair state of preser- 
vation, but they do not. Few of the 
trunks are sound. Some of them appear 
half or two-thirds dead, and only a nar- 
row margin of live bark and wood'to keep 
vigor in the top. Some have a water- 
sprout growing from the old trunk with 
all the thrift of youth, the sprout itself in 
a number of instances having attained the 
proportions of a tree. One of the old 
trunks that I measured showed a girth of 
forty-two inches near the ground. Three 
or four years ago the old trees were 
topped, probably as a restorative measure. 



They now boast new tops of respectable 
dimensions, but the trees possess some- 
thing of a stubby appearance, neverthe- 
less. It is a matter of record that, before 
the topping process, one of the old trees 
bore in one season 10,000 oranges. The 
trees are now bearing from the new 
growth, and the fruit is a good quality. 
The spaces between the patriarchs, which 
were made vacant by those that were 
gathered to their fathers, have all been 
filled by younger trees. Some of these 
replants are now full grown — probably 
twenty-five years old, and others younger. 
The orchard, in the main, presents an in- 
congruous appearance, with young, mid- 
dle-aged and old trees intermingled. The 
well-meaning Father who replanted prob- 
ably did not bear in mind the Scriptural 
injunction about putting new wine into 
old bottles, and mending an old garment 
with new cloth. 

The Mission orchard and garden is 
farmed out to a tenant (Mexican), who 
cares for it and takes a part of the crop 
for his pay. While the orchard is fairly 
tended at present, it shows evidences of 
great neglect in former times. Probably 
its long and eventful history has been an 
unbroken succession of over irrigation 
and under cultivation. Hence the dis- 
eased condition of the trunks. Some of 
the patriarchs must bow to the inevitable 
in the course of a few years. Others 
promise to round up their century of ex- 
istence, and perhaps more. 



CHAPTER V. 

A GLANCE AT OUR ORANGE-GROWING COUNTRY. 



"All Gaul," says Caesar, " is divided into 
three parts." The same is true of all 
Southern California. But our tripartite 
division, unlike Caesar's, is based upon 
topography. 

If you were at the masthead of a vessel 
off the coast of Los Angeles county, you 
might have these three grand divisions 
within your range of vision. Looking up 
the perspective of Wilmington inlet you 



would descry the low, half-marshy coun- 
try behind Wilmington, At the left of 
the view the headlands of Santa Monica 
indicate the upland plain lying beyond. 
The mountains of the Coast Range form 
the background of this plain, and at their 
base you perceive there is an irregular, 
sloping strip of land, forming the line of 
junction between the mountains and the 
plain. This intermediate land here, as 



10 



THE OEANGE; 



elsewhere in California, we designate by 
the Spanish word mesa, meaning table. 

You liave seen, then, from your raast- 
liead, the lowlands of Wilmington, the 
uplands of Santa Monica, and the mesas 
of the Coast Range. These are tj'pes of 
the three natural divisions of our country. 
Though comprehended in -the same geo- 
graphical area, and often found contigu- 
ous, they still vary in characteristics of 
soil, climate and productions as much as 
distinctive countries. Prof. Hilgard says: 

*• They are commonly distinguished into 
lands of the first bench, or bottom lands 
of the streams; lands of the second bench, 
formmg either at the present time or orig- 
inally a system of terraces elevated from 
lifteen to twenty-five feet above the bot- 
tom lands; and, finally, the mesa lands, 
lying at higher elevations, and with no 
definite relation to the present drainage 
system. Of course, these distinctions are 



not absolutely maintainable; the second' 
benches and lower mesa lands passing 
into each other imperceptibly, especially 
on the upper portions of the streams,, 
while again, in the lower portions of the^ 
same, the second bench lands often lie 
high enough to be classed as mesas. On 
the slopes of the mesa lands the soil of" 
the latter and that of the bench lands are 
of course frequently commingled." 

I have cited portions of IjOS Angeles 
county byway of illustration, while spec- 
ifying the general characteristics of South- 
ern California. The principles which these 
chapters are designed to illustrate apply 
to all that portion of California lying 
south of Point Concepcion. They also ap- 
ply, measurably, to all other agricultural 
sections of the State, and to all fruit-grow- 
ing countries in the world, so far as I am, 
able to judge from published reports at 
my command. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LOWLANDS. 



Our lowlands may be described, in 
brief, as the troughs of the natural water- 
sheds. They occur in tlie line of greatest 
depression in the valleys, between moun- 
tain chain and mountain chain, and re- 
ceive whatever surface drainage there 
may bo. Their principal source of moist- 
ure, however, is in the subterranean flow. 
These lands abound in cieneg as— marshy 
flats — and the water is anywhere obtaina- 
ble a few feet below the surface. Gener- 
ally speaking, our lowlands are not unlike 
the so-called "bottoms "of the Missouri 
and Mississippi rivers. The soil is a rich 
loam, and in some places quite sandy. 
Willows grow in dense, natural thickets, 
and cottonwoods are occasionally found. 
Some sections, too damp and alkaline for 
anj'thing else, produce a species of salt 
grass. Where the configuration insures 
sufficient drainage, these lands produce 
amazing crops of corn, beets, pumpkins, 
alfalfa, etc. Small grains are apt to grow 
too rank for the best results. With proper 
tillage, ihe farmer may here defy that 



bug-a-boo, the California "dry year,''' 
since the moisture to mature his crops is 
supplied unfailingly from below. 

But while this lowland belt excels in the- 
products mentioned, to the extent of being 
facetiously dubbed "our hog and hominy 
country," it is not well adapted to horti- 
culture. I except apples and English wal- 
nuts, which thrive there, better perhaps, 
than in other localities. Peach, pear, and 
other deciduous trees grow, but the fruit, 
while frequently of great size, is watery 
and insipid. 

On such land were doubtless produced 
those California pears which Bret Harte 
stigmatized as "great and dropsical." The 
more shame to him as a quondam Cali- 
fornian, for abusing our fruits without 
discrimination! But many people have 
fallen into the same error; hence the 
widely 'prevalent belief that California 
does not produce fine-flavored deciduous 
fruits. Those ponderous lowland pears 
are designed to feast the eyes, not the pal- 
ate; and the Eastern man who buj'^s them. 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFORNIA. 



II 



—delivered in his market at their weight 
in nickels — and in good faith eats them is 
probably excusable for his after prejudice 
against California fruits. 

The reason why the lowlands are not 
well adapted to horticulture is found in 
the damp, cold condition of the ground. 
To what extent this difficulty might be 
obviated by a thorough system of under- 
drainage, like that in vogue among East- 
ern and Old World farmers, it is impossi- 
ble to state. So far as I am informed, no- 
body has tested the method; and, unfor- 
tunately, our lowland farmers are not of 
the class that expend any of their sub- 
stance in experiments. 

However they may continue to offend 
the Eastern palate with their big, taste- 
less pears and peaches, there is no danger 
that they will scandalize our citrus fruits. 
Oranges, lemons and limes cannot be 
profitably grown on the lowlands. Not 
only is the cold soil against them, but the 
air temperature also goes below their limit 
of endurance. I can only give a hint at 
the theory of atmospheric strata, which 
accounts for the seeming anomaly of the 
greater warmth existing in the higher 
alitudes. Suffice it that cold air being 
more dense than warm is heavier, and 
hence sinks to the lowest parts of the val- 
ley and establishes its level just as an 
equal volume of water would do. In our 



country the cold spells are not of sufficient 
intensity or duration to raise this sea of 
chilled air above a certain level. As the- 
cold currents flow down from the snow- 
capped mountain peaks, they seek the- 
channels of greatest depression, and the- 
warm atmosphere of the day rises upon 
the surface of the invisible flood. The- 
high grounds escape this inundation; 
hence their greater freedom from frosts.. 
This is not a mere hypothesis, but a well- 
established physical condition which ife. 
demonstrated nightly through nearly the- 
entire year. In winter it is possible to 
find a difference of fifteen or twenty de- 
grees between the temperature of the high 
and low lands. In ascending from the 
valley I have many times noted the tran- 
sition from a colder to a warmer stratum 
of air, and haye even taken cognizance of 
three such strata in making the elevation, 
of two hundred feet. In such eases the^ 
change is as great and as sharply defined 
as one would experience in passing from 
a cold bath to a warm one. 

It has been truly said that a man might 
as well try to raise oranges in Greenland 
as in some portions of Southern California.. 
While the object of these articles is main- 
ly to point out the situations favorable to. 
orange growing, it is also within their 
province to say where oranges may not be 
grown. The lowlands should be avoided^ 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE MIDDLE LANDS. 



The uplands, classified as the second 
grand division of the country, constitute 
our great body of agricultural and horti- 
cultural lands. As regards soil, elevation, 
water supply, and all leading character- 
istics, these uplands are greatly diversi- 
fied. They are, therefore, adapted to a 
wide range of products, and, in one place 
or another, they yield everything that is 
grown in the country. And it is enthusi- 
astically claimed that we have every pro- 
duct known to the sub-tropical and tem- 
perate zones, and some that are peculiar 



to the torrid and frigid. It was mainly 
upon the broad expanse of these uplands, 
that Los Angeles county produced in 1882; 
her 1,700,000 bushels of wheat and 729,000. 
bushels of barlej^; her fruit crop to the 
value of $950,000, and the grapes from, 
which were manufactured 3,100,000 gallons 
of wine and 145,000 gallons of brandy. 

It should be understood that I include 
in the category of uplands not only the- 
broad plain of the Los Angeles valley, but 
also the tributary valleys, which are main- 
ly devoted to grahi. These lands produce 



12 



THE OKANGE; 



wheat and barley without irrigation, and 
during the past five years have averaged 
good yields. Latterly it has been demon- 
strated that the vine may also be grown 
here without irrigation, and thousands of 
acres, previously considered fit only for 
grain, have been transformed into vine- 
3^ards. For general farm products and 
fruits, however, irrigation is necessary. 

Oranges are produced on the uplands 
with varying results, which may be termed 
good, bad and indifierent. In proximity 
to the ocean, the orange tree does not 
thrive. As the valley recedes, gaining 
continually in altitude and modifjing the 
sea breezes, the chances for successful or- 
-ange culture increase. Two years ago it 
would have been an act of treason for me 
to say that the best flavored oranges could 
not be grown in and about the city of Los 
Angeles, twenty miles from the coast. 
But it is even so. All unprejudiced ob- 
servers, and some that are prejudiced, are 
forced by the logic of market quotations 
to acknowledge the fact. Last season Los 
Angeles fruits were sold by our jobbing 



houses and hucksters at half, or less than 
half, the prices commanded by the or- 
anges of Pasadena and Duarte (mesas), 
and of the far interior yalley of Riverside, 
in San Bernardino county. 

I have said that the chances of success 
in orange growing increase as the valleys 
recede from the ocean. The favorable 
conditions culminate in the high interior 
irrigable valleys like that of Riverside, 
where the soil is warm, and the weather 
hotter in summer, and more tempered in 
winter. The oranges of Riverside rate as 
the finest grown in the State, and com- 
mand the highest prices. The same fa- 
vorable conditions are found on the mesas 
which lie against the Sierra Madre moun- 
tains on the south, southeast and south- 
west. Here the atmosphere is warmer by 
reason of the greater elevation, and the 
earth absorbs heat both from the direct 
rays of the sun and the refraction from 
the mountain sides. This brings us to the 
consideration of what I have termed the 
third natural division of our country. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE MESAS. 



Less than twelve years have elapsed 
since the settlement and improvement of 
our mesas began. During the first half of 
this time the general public looked ask- 
ance at the few venturesome people who 
had set out to demonstrate that these 
lands were really arable. When success 
was finally secured, the press took up the 
matter and agitated it so persistently that 
a general change of opinion was soon ef- 
fected. 

That the advantages of the mesas for 
fruit growing, and especially for orange 
growing, were so tardily recognized is a 
matter of wonder. A man with "half an 
eye" should have observed their natural 
adaptability to horticulture at the outset. 

The early settler in Los Angeles county 
found the upper valleys mostly a treeless 
and shrubless waste. The only vegeta- 
tion there abounding was the alfilerilla, 
that hardy cousin of the geranium, which 



matures its seed whether the stalk grows 
to a height of three feet or a half inch — 
thus allowing the utmost latitude for wet 
and dry seasons, and perpetuating itself 
where scarcely any other vegetation could 
survive. This alfilerilla the early settler 
found dried and matted upon the ground 
a good half of the year. In marked con- 
trast with the semi-sterility of the plain, 
the foothills presented a perennial cover- 
ing of verdure. There, through the long, 
dry summer, the lupine and larkspur sent 
up their spikes of bloom, and the sage 
and grease- wood, the alder, white thorn 
and buckthorn blossomed and matured 
their seeds and fruit. In some localities, 
too, there were vigorous growths of live- 
oaks and sycamores. 

Now, what did the early settler do but 
locate his farm upon the treeless and 
shrubless plain, where he applied himself 
to the raising of an orchard and vineyard 



ITS CULTUBE IN CALIFORNIA. 



13; 



by irrigation! And he imbibed a notion, 
somehow, that the foothills were dry and 
sterile. This prejudice existed for a hun- 
dred years. Not only did the original 
settler maintain it faithfully to the end, 
but his sons and his sons' sons, to the 
third and fourth generation. 

Our comparatively recent discovery that 
the foothills offer desirable lands for fruit 
culture is, in reality, no discovery at all. 
The viticulturists of the old world haye 
known the fact and have taken advantage 
of it for many years. In France, the most 
celebrated vineyards — Chateau Marguax, 
Chateau Leoville, Monte Bello, Cliquot, 
and many more— are located on the sum- 
mit or sides of eminences. In Germany, 
Johannisberg and. other noble wines are 
produced on the Rhine hills. Spain was 
the last among European countries in dis- 
covering the natural advantages of the 
highlands, and when the fact became pat- 
ent some of the more desirable locations 
advanced in value a thousand per cent. 

For fruit trees as well as for vines the 
elevated lands are in request in France 
and Spain, and in Mediterranean coun- 
tries. Substantially the same fruits that 



excel in our higher altitudes excel in the 
higher altitudes in France. 

Gen. H. S. Sanford, of Florida, writing 
of citrus culiu*e in Sicily, says: *'The 
richest soil does not produce the most es- 
teemed fruits. Thus, in the vast and fer- 
tile valley of the Concho, back of Paler- 
mo, covered with orange groves of most 
luxuriant growth, its productions sell for 
one-third less than those of the same trees 
planted on Monte Reale, and other hills 
in sight, with poor, calcareous soil ; and 
whose fruits, prized especially for export, 
by reason of their quality of long keep- 
ing, are known by the mark ' M ' (Moun- 
tain)." 

It is thus shown that the prejudice of 
the pioneer fruit grower against our foot 
hills was opposed to precedent as well as 
to good judgment. Having eyes, he saw 
not the proofs set before him by nature in 
the wild growth of trees and shrubs, and, 
having ears, he heard not the testimony 
of other peoples. Suffice it that the cen- 
tury-old prejudice having at length been 
dissipated, fruit and vine growers 
throughout the State haye been making- 
seven-league strides to recover the lost 
territory. 



CHAPTER IX. 

STATUS OF THE ORANGE INDUSTRY. 



The orange tree is not indigenous to 
Southern California. Neither can it exist 
here in a wild, untended state. Perhaps 
these circumstances, seemingly disadvan- 
tageous, are really points of strength, 
when we consider that personal exertion 
supplies every deficiency. 

Mankind — especially the mankind of 
this soft, sub-tropical clime— is somewhat 
predisposed to "take things easy." 
Humor his laziness a little, and he be- 
comes lazier still. If our not-too-energetic 
early settlers had found that by simply 
dropping the seed, they might grow thick- 
ets or oranges in the fence corners and by 
the roadsides, depend upon it, there 
would haye been wild fruit enough to sup- 
ply every demand. But with such a con- 



dition of affairs, the incentive to careful 
modes of cultivation would have been 
lacking, and to this day our people might 
have contented themselves with a profus- 
ion of inferior fruit, unable to command 
any extended market, and oblivious to the 
great possibilities of the orange-growing 
industry. Such, indegd, is the case in 
Central and South American countries, 
which have been endowed by nature with 
all our advantages and with the disadvant- 
age of growing the fruit without personal 
effort. 

Our cultivators, obliged from the outset 
to give their trees close attention, and ad- 
monished that the profits would be gauged 
by the thoroughness of their work, have ^ 
addressed themselves to mastering every 



14 



THE OKANGE; 



•detail of the industry. They have studied 
the requirements of their trees; have in- 
formed themselves of the most scientific 
methods of propagation; have introduced, 
by budding, the choicest known varieties; 
have mastered the problem of insect pests; 
have established markets, and are work- 
ing to gain a reputation for their fruit. In 
<those points to which they have earnestly 
•and systematically devoted themselves, it 
is doubtful whether they are excelled by 
any orange - producing country in the 
world. 

In two essentials, however, they are 
still lacking : 1st— manuring the soil; 
:2nd— preparing and packing the fruit.* 
But a reading, thoughtful, progressive 
people will not take long to discover and 
4-emedy their lapses. 

Compared with horticulture as pursued 
in other portions of the United States, our 
section occupies a leading position. The 
system of seeding an orchard to grass or 
■clover, or the lack of system in allowing 
the ground to grow up with weeds — which 
one sees so generally followed in other 
.States — is not in vogue among our culti- 
vators. On the contrary, the finest tilth 
iind the utmost freedom from weeds and 
grasses is maintained, both in citrus and 
deciduous orchards. ]t would not be a 
difficult matter to show hundreds of friiit 
farms, vaiying in size from ten to fifty 
•acres, which are as carefully tended as the 
finest flower garden. 

Some people of poetical temperament 
ijomplain of the absence of greensward 
in our orange groves, declaring that only 
this is lacking to complete the romance of 
the situation. But in this day and age 
romance is obliged to retire before utility. 
tScientific culture demands that soil de- 
voted to trees shall not be exhausted by 
other vegetable growth; also that the sur- 
face of the ground be at all times finely 
pulverized in order to retard evaporation. 
Our system of fruit growing conforms to 
these requirements. 

For a time— I refer to the period between 
1870 and 1880— citrus culture presented 
here the H{>ectacle of a great industry run 



'^NoTE. — I ahonld make an exception in Riverside, 
where the paokln*; in done in a aystematic and thor- 
ough mauner. 



mad. In a preceding chapter I referred 
to the furor for planting which then exist- 
ed, and I also alluded briefly to some of 
the disastrous results which followed. 
Those years inculcated some useful les- 
sons. They taught us that well established 
precedents and natural conditions can 
not be ignored and defied. They taught 
that success is attainable only by working 
ivUh Nature, not against her. 

And now, chastened, humbled, pun- 
ished for our previous thoughtlessness 
and wrong-doing, and likewise rewarded 
for carefulness and right-doing, we pro- 
ceed with more confidence and more in- 
tegrity of purpose than ever before. With 
precedents well established,and authentic 
information disseminated on every ques- 
tionable point, a man who takes pains to 
inform himself may now attain success in 
orange culture as surely as the sea captain 
who consults the chart may make his 
port. Of course, unforseen accidents may 
happen to either captain or orange-grower, 
but of the two the "land-lubber" enjoys 
the greater immunity. 

The report of the Surveyor-General of 
California for tlie fiscal year 1881-2 gives 
the following statistics: 





Number of 


Number of 




Bearing 


Bearing 




Lemon Trees. Orange Trees. 




450,12.5 


San Bernardino.. 


3,749 


15,435 




1,2-57 


3,390 




1,840 


612 




547 


1,035 




1,893 


3,927 




1,000 


200 


Yolo 




1,300 




2,400 


2,960 




1,094 


4,643 


Total 


62,130 


484,227 



It was estimated that the number of 
trees not yet in bearing (which did not 
figure in the Assessor's reports) was three 
times the number of those in bearing, so 
that the grand total of orange trees in the 
State could not have heen far from two 
millions. 

Reports for the year 1882-3 are not a%"ail- 
ableforany of the counties except Los 
Angeles. The Assessor of that county re- 
turns this year 526,640 bearing orange 
trees and 50,565 bearing lemon trees. 

The entire crop of the State was, in the 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



15 



season of 1881-2, twenty millions of 
oranges. San Francisco, which is our 
jn-incipal market, uses about twelve mill- 
Ions annually, of whichever half are sup- 
plied by Southern California. In 1879 
lif teen car loads of oranges were sent from 
Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, Utah, and 
from that time a good market has there 
^heeAi. found. The rapid influx of people 
to Arizona during the past three or four 
years greatly increased the demand from 
that quarter. Arizona, by reason of the 
inadaptability of her soil to agriculture, 
the principal occupations of her people 
being mining and stock raising, and the 
•excessive heat of her summers, is certain 
to continue a large consumer. Our market 
lias also been extended within the past 
few years so that it includes Denver, Kan- 
sas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, 
Louisville, and all of the principal cities 
•of the West and Southwest. Some fruit 
has found its way to the Atlantic States 
and some has been shipped to European 
countries, but not to the extent of forming 
a-egular channels of trade. 

The number of oranges shipped by the 
^Southern Pacific railroad from Southern 
California to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, 
Colorado, and through points on the Mis- 
souri river and east thereof, from January 
1st to July 1st, 1883, amounted to 131,450 
boxes. By Wells, Fargo & Co., during 
the same time, estimated 20,000 more, 
•making in all 151,450 boxes containing 
30,290,000 oranges. To this amount we 
maj'- add at least 10,000,000 more, shipped 
from July 1st to Dec. 31st, and at least 
5,000,000 used up in local markets or de- 
stroyed in orchards, making for the crop, 
without counting those shipped to San 
Francisco 45,000,000 oranges. With the 
fruit raised in San Diego, San Buenaven- 
tura and Santa Barbara, there were prob- 
ably 50,000,000 grown in the year 1882 and 
1883. It is estimated that the annual in- 
crease from this time forward will be 10,- 
000,000 a year. The crop, of 1883-4, if all 
put in boxes, would have required 250,000 
boxes, and would have filled 700 freight 
cars at the rate of 350 boxes per car. 

The remarkable keeping qualities of our 
oranges— due in a measure, no doubt, to 
their thick rind — renders their shipment 
Eong distances quite feasible. 



The season at which our fruit ripens 
(December to March) and the length of 
time it may be allowed to remain on tne 
trees without detriment (December to 
July) gives us great choice of market. 
Florida and Louisiana oranges are sold 
from November 1st to March 1st, and at 
the latter date the entire crop is gone. 
There is no necessity for marketing our 
fruit before February or March— and in 
fact it hardly attains its full size and 
sweetness until then— when we have the 
entire field to ourselves. Even the im- 
ported Tahitis are then out of the way. 

As the lines of trade become better es- 
tablished, and the excellencies of our fruit 
more appreciated throughout the United 
States, the demand will, of course, greatlj'- 
increase. It is fair to assume that, not- 
withstanding the prodigious increase of 
plantations, the market will never be 
overstocked with good fruit. Taking the 
season of 1883-4 for an example, I may 
state that as early as December 1st, when 
the fruit was only beginning to turn color, 
four-fifths of the crop of Los Angeles 
county had been engaged by jobbers. 
One cultivator sold his crop on the trees 
for the lump sum of |12,000. The usual 
price paid was f2 per box (average 150 
oranges) and fancy lots went up to $2.50, 
$3.00, and ever ^5.00 per box. 'J hat year's 
crop was accounted short— from half to 
two-thirds the normal yield — and the un- 
usual promptness of purchasers was, of 
course, largely attributable to this fact. 
But, considering the increased number of 
bearing trees, and the increased capacity 
of some of the older ones, the yield was 
still very large. There is yet no substan- 
tial indication that the market is being 
over-supplied. 

As the reader has already discovered by 
the perusal of the Surveyor General's 
table above given, the cultivation of the 
orange and lemon is confined to a few 
counties of California. Los Angeles coun- 
ty alone makes a showing in the above 
table of over forty-five forty-eighths of all 
the bearing trees in the State. I shall at- 
tempt to show, before concluding this 
treatise, that only a limited portion of Los 
Angeles and of the other orange-growing 
counties is adapted to the production of 
the better class of orangeB. The area of 



16 



THE OKANGE; 



possible production is, then, very much 
restricted. While the market must con- 
tinue to grow, and while the product w'ill 
doubtless grow with tlie market, the area 
of possible production can not grow. At 
present ten oranges are imported to every- 
one grown in the United States. The time 
is coming when our home product w'ill, in 
a great measure, supplant foreign impor- 
tations. 

Prices may fluctuate somewhat, and 



may sometime rule much lower than they 
do now, but even at one-half of present 
quotations orange-growing must continue^ 
profitable. Growers in the Mediterranean 
accept one-quarter of our prices, yet they 
admit that they would tind their grooves 
profitable even at lower rates. 

It is the firm belief of the writer that 
orange-growing in California will tever 
be overdone, and, when rightly pursued, 
W'ill never become unprofitable. 



CHAPTER X. 

PROFITS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 



In his delightful book on Orange Cul- 
ture in Florida, Rev. T. W. Moore says: 

"When compared to the profit from 
other kinds of business, that derived from 
orange growing is so large that a state- 
ment of facts is often withheld because 
the truth seems fabulous to those who 
have only had experience with other 
kinds of fruit. Those engaged in the busi- 
ness consider each tree, as soon as it is in 
healthy and vigorous bearing, worth one 
hundred dollars. Indeed, the annual 
yield of such a tree will pay a large inter- 
est on the one hundred dollars. Now if 
we take into consideration that from forty 
to one hundred trees are grown on an 
acre, the j'ield is immense. In the quiet 
country, breathing its pure atmosphere, 
with fresh fruits and vegetables from Jan- 
uary to January; mith milk, butter, honey 
and poultry', the product of his farm and 
accessories to his grove, the man who has 
once brouglit his trees into successful 
bearing can enjoy all these and much 
more besides, having at his command an 
income quite equal to that commanded by 
owners of blocks of well-improved real 
estate in our towns and cities, with not 
one-tenth part of the original cost of city 
investments." 

This, let it be distinctly understood, was 
not written about California. Therefore, I 
have introduced it here. Before opening 
fire on this much bombarded question of 
orange culture, I wish to fortify myself 
with breastworks that shall be impregna- 



ble to the charge of local prejudice. My 
purpose is to show that another people, 
far remote, and following orange culture 
under conditions quite independent of 
ours, have arrived at the belief that orange 
culture is very profitable. We of Cali- 
fornia have worked through the same 
premises and arrived at the same conclu- 
sion. The proof is by two witnesses. 

It is a difficult matter to present in busi- 
ness-like form the Profit and Loss account 
of orange culture in Southern California. 
It is a great industry, scattered and divers- 
ified. In one instance— pursued by a 
shiftless cultivator, or in an illy adajDted 
locality, or lacking in other ways es^J^tial 
conditions of , success — it may be a losing 
business. Again, with moderately favor- 
able conditions, it may pay a small jDrofit. 
And still again, with every circumstance 
in its favor, including a favorable turn in 
the market, the profit may appear pro- 
digious. It would not be fair to cite either 
of these cases as illustrative of general 
results. It would not be fair even to 
strike an average of the three. Yet some- 
where between the extremes a fair gener- 
alization is to be found. Reasonable ex- 
cellence is, after all, a fair criterion. Let 
us incline tow^ards results obtained from 
right conditions, careful culture, fair mar- 
kets. Such results anybody can attain if 
he observes established methods. 

Riverside is the model orange-growing 
settlement of Southern California. Here- 
the conditions of reasonable excellence are 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



17 



more general and uniform than in any 
other locality of like extent that I could 
name. Owing to the fact that statistics 
have here been carefully compiled, T am 
enabled to present something like a satis- 
factory view of the industry taken as a 
whole and averaged up by the acre. These 
statistics are drawn from the files of the 
Press and Horticulturist. Returns fur- 
nished by the cultivators in 1882 showed a 
grand total of 200,000 orange trees, cover- 
ing 2,000 acres. The trees reported in 1882 
may be considered as nearly all bearing 
at the present time — some at their best, 
others yielding their first or second crop, 
which is light. Some of the seedlings may 
not yet have come into bearing. Last year 
(1883-4), the total orange product of the 
valley was 25,000 boxes. The fruit then 
brought an average of |3 per box. 

This year, the trees being more advanced 
and the crop generally fuller, it is esti- 
mated that the product will be from 100,- 
000 to 150,000 boxeSo Returns received 
from advance shipments range from %1 to 
|3.13 per box. These are net returns to 
the producers, free of any expense for 
picking, packing and shipping. The vari- 
ation in prices is owing, in a great meas- 
ure, to different qualities of fruit, the 
Riverside Navels and other choice budded 
varieties selling above the seedlings. As- 
suming $1.50 per box as an average price, 
the net income from 100,000 boxes of fruit 
would be $150,000. Or, taking the larger 
estimate of 150,000 boxes, it would be 
$225,000. These returns averaged upon 
the 2,000 acres devoted to orange culture, 
would give from $75 to $112.50 per acre as 
^he net return. In this calculation, it 
must be remembered, enter the trees not 
yet bearing, others just coming into bear- 
ing and a small proportion in full bear- 
ing. Prices also range lower than ever 
before, with one exception, owing to the 
fact that our channels of trade are but just 
opening up, and as yet the means of dis- 
posing of so large a product are inade- 
quate. 

It is estimated that the orange crop of 
Riverside, when the trees are in full bear- 
ing, — say five years hence, should amount 
to five boxes to the tree, or 1,000,000 boxes. 
Allowing the price to be 75 cents per box 
(and it is hardly likely that fruit of the 



quality raised in the interior valleys of 
California will ever go below that figure), 
we shall have an aggregate net income of 
$750,000, or an average of $375 per acre. 

These general estimates may seem over- 
drawn. Perhaps tlie inscrutable logic of 
events may prove them so. But I can as- 
sure my readers that the basis of calcula- 
tion both in price of fruit and yield, are 
far below what is being realized in indi- 
vidual cases. 

It is a matter of record, and has been 
cited in a preceding- chapter, that some of 
the early cultivators realized profits which 
seem fabulous. Governor Downey says of 
Don Luis Wolf skill:' "He lived to enjoy 
his oranges for twenty years, and they 
gave him, some seasons, an income of a 
thousand dollars an acre. The last crop 
disposed of in his lifetime, from about 
twenty-eight acres, sold on the trees for- 
$25,000." The Don's sons and daughters, , 
grown to mature years, still enjoy a 
princely income from the estate. 

Six or seven years ago the profits of 
orange culture ran up to marvelous fig- 
ures. In a speech delivered by Mr. J. de ■ 
Earth Shorb to a public body, that gentle- 
man stated that a single acre of Col. B. D. 
Wilson's older orange groves yielded 
nearly $1800 in one year, a fact which can 
readily be believed when singletrees have 
been known to net sixty or seventy dol- - 
lars, and when from sixty to eighty trees . 
are planted to the acre. Three years ago 
Mr. Dalton netted $800 from a quarter of 
an acre planted in orange trees of a fine 
quality'-, and of mature growth. 

In these times of increased production 
and lessened prices I do not know that 
any cultivator claims to equal the old 
Don's profit of $1000 per acre, or Col. Wil- 
son's $1800. But it has been not unusual 
for a grower to clear as much as $500 an 
acre. In the season of 1882-3ione producei- 
in the San Gabriel valley sold his crop on 
the trees for the lump sum of $23,000.. 
This from about forty acres of orchard. 

In the files of the Press and HorticuUtir- 
ist for Dctobev 25, 1884, I find the follow- 
ing : 

"Mr. 1). C. Twogood has 450 seedling or-^ 
ange trees, covering six acres of land'. 
The trees were planted twelve years ago, 
and the roots M ere three years old when, 



18 



THE OEANGE: 



The Uvea were planted, thus making the 
irees now actually fifteen years old. They 
have been bearing about six or seven 
years. II is from Lhis six acres that Mr. 
Twogood expects to harvest 2000 boxes of 
oranges. He .iudgc« his crop this year 
from actual yields in previous years. He 
lias, however, about sixty budded trees, 
now bearing lightly, in addition to the 450 
•seedlings, and possibly it may require a 
portion of this fruit to make up his esti- 
wiafee. Ho also has ten acres of budded 
orange trees that are just beginning to 
v.how' fruit. 

"He has obtained |3 per box, with the ex- 
ceptioai of one year— t^o years ago— when 
on account of the freei'.e he got only ^2.25 
per box. If he gets ^i:} per box this year, 
that will be §1000 pei- acre, which will pay 
ten per cent on an investment of $10,000 
per acre, or something less after deduct- 
ing running expenses. 

"Regarding the cost of caring for a 
place, that depends upon circumstances. 
'If a man has a five-acre tract, it costs him 
more to take care of it than it does if he 
has twenty or forty acres. A man can 
liire all the work done in an orange or- 
<;hard for §30 per acre a year, but in addi- 
tion to this w^ork he must give a certain 
^imouat of personal ciire and attention not 
^:alled for in the |30 per acre contract. If 
he expects to hire all the work done, but 
lo supervise it in pei*son, and do a little 
himself occasional 13% $30 per acre ought to 
keep an orchard iu good sha{)e for one 

■"Willi this year's cirop Mr. Twogood 



will have taken about $12,000 worth of 
fruit from his six acres in twelve years 
since planting — all of which, of course, 
has been within the last six years. The 
orchard has cost him something like the 
following tigures: 

^i^Six acres of land at $25 per acre $ 1.50 

Four hundred and fifty trees at $1 each 450 

Twelve years of care at $80 per acre a year. , 2,160 
Interest on amount at 10 per cent for six yra. 1 656 

Total investment $ 4,416 

Total receipts 12,000 

$ 7,984 

"The present value of property each 
one can estimate for himself. Can Mr. 
Twogood afford to sell that orchard for 
.$0,000 per acre ?" 

As the market goes, Mr. Twogood does 
not realize $3 per box for his fruit; but, at 
half that price, provided the crop holds up 
to estimate, his returns will be $500 an 
acre. 

If, in the evolution of the orange indus- 
try, the time shall come when a grove in 
full bearing yields only ^100 an acre net, 
the profit ought still to satisfy a man of 
moderate ambition. With ten acres in 
trees, yielding a revenue of $1,000 a year, 
and the hundred and one accessories and 
economies of country life, a man ought to 
be able to live and support a family. He 
may enjoy not only the substantial com- 
forts, but many of the elegancies of life, 
This is an independence. 



*In order to avoid a false impression, I should 
say that such land is no longer to be had in River- 
side at $25 an acre, hut Is worth, unimproved, tea 
times that figure. 



CHAPT 

C II A R ACTE RISTICS 

'Scientists t6ll us that tho orange is a 
berry. Tlie pulp, the separating mem- 
)>ranes and the skin are bat a thickening 
♦if tho pericarp or seed vessel. 

Jn this respect tho orange resemblflfc the 
i^rape (also a berry^ and totally difierent 
from the A|>fjle, iu which all of the parts 
4J the flower— caJyx, corolla, stamens and 



ER XL 

OF THE ORANGE. 

pistil— are wrought into the fruit. The 
natural office of the orange, then, is to 
bear seed. 

Before a thousand years of evolution 
made tho orange what wo know it today, 
the tree bore beans— or at least produced 
its seed in pods clustered together at the 
end of a stem. If you will peel an oranga 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOENIA. 



19 



and separate it along the membranes into 
its various segments, you will have before 
you these seed pods in something like 
their original form. Doubtless as it first 
grew, the pulp was much less than we find 
in our abnormally developed fruit;— 
there may have been little of the pod ex- 
cept the seeds and the leathery skin 
which enclosed them. But finally this 
bunch of seed pods adhered at their 
bases, and the union extended to the 
a.pex, uniting all the segments into a sin- 
gle fruit of spherical form. With this 
union, the portions of the thick rind 
which came within the sphere degener- 
ated into the thin membranes which we 
now find. The development of the pulp 
into the full, juicy tissues of tlie perfect 
fruit is largely the work of man, in care- 
fully selecting the best species, improving 
them by cultivation, and transmitting the 
good qualities by the process of budding. 
Note the fact that the development of 
these juicy tissues has been at the expense 
of the seeds and cuticle. The highest type 
of budded orange is nearly seedless and 
has a thin rind. 

When you find an orange "sport" 
which shows a tendency to split at the 
bloem end into a number of pod-like seg- 
ments, or to show decided creases in the 
rind along the lines of the segments, as 
though it had half a notion to divide itself 
up, remember that the tree which bore 
tills fruit was thinking of its great, great, 
gr^t grandmother, that passed away a 
couple of thousand years ago. This 
*'8port," as well as all others, illustrates 
the natural tendency of all organisms, 
plant or animal, to revert to an earlier 
condition. The primitive form of the or- 
ange was what scientists term *'apocar- 
pou3." 

The orange tree, compared with many 
other trees that are adapted to a sub-trop- 
ical climate, is of slow growth. It requires 
about sixteen years for the seedling to at- 
tain what might be called its full normal 
proportions. It then stands about tweHty- 
five feet high,* with a spread of branches 

♦The size of budded trees varies so much, from 
the standard seedling that I do not attempt to can- 
vass the natter in this article. There are dwarf, 
aeirii-dwarf and *andard buds, all of which follow 
their respective nabits when set upon a seedling 
stock, and make trees from five to twenty-five feet 
in height. 



of about the same distance, and acircum- 
fereno>e of trunk, near the ground, of 
nearly three feet. The seventy-year old 
orange tree of the Mission orchard, San 
Gabriel, which I measured, showed a girth 
of forty-two inches. The inference is fair 
that, between the ages of sixteen and sev- 
enty, it had increased its circumference of 
trunk only six inches. As the orange 
tree attains its maturity, its cylindrical 
trunk changes to one of eccentric longitu- 
dinal corrugations, although, if healthy, 
the bark still remains smooth. 

The wood of the orange tree is close- 
grained, hard and susceptible to a fine 
polish. It is of a clear, yellow color, em- 
bodying a suggestion of the fruit itself. 
The top of the tree contains another sug- 
gestion of the fruit, for, if allowed to take 
its natural bent, with little pruning, its 
contour is almost spherical, like tbo 
orange. 

The leaves are ovate in form, slightly 
serrated, and of thick leathery texture. 
When newly forming they are of a bright 
yellow hue, but as they mature they 
change to a dark green, with the upper 
surface presenting a decided gloss. The 
tree is an evergreen, and it has numerous 
seasons of growth during the year, with 
slight dormant intermissions. I once took 
careful note of a tree at my place, with the 
following result : On the first of January 
there was a little new growth already 
formed. This made some progress dur- 
ing the month, and hardened up about 
the middle of February. In April another 
growth began, and matured in Mar. 
About the middle of July the third grow- 
ing period commenced, and this time the 
tree made more wood than in both pre- 
vious growths combined. By the last of 
August the yellow leaves had all turned 
to their normal shade, and the stems were 
hardened. In October there was a slight 
growth. In December the shoots started 
again, but this was the same growth I had 
noted at the beginning of the year. Thus 
I found four distinct growing periods. It 
is not unusual for trees to make even five 
growths in a year under favorable circum- 
stances, while with retarding causes they 
may make only one or two. The times of 
starting and maturing may also vary al- 
most a month, according to circumstance^ 



20 



THE OEANGE; 



of irngatioii, cultivation, temperature, 
etc. The dormant periods of the orange 
tree may be generally defined as follows : 

The middle of March to the middle of 
April. 

The mouth of June. 

The month of September. 

The middle of November to the middle 
of December. 

The orange tree blossoms early in Feb- 
ruary, and continues in flower until the 
last of March. The blossom is a pure 
white, of the most exquisite texture, and 
its fragrance is so great as to be almost 
surfeiting. As a typical flower, twined 
into a wreath to surmount the head of a 
bride, nothing could be more delicately 
suggestive of beautj'', purity and sweet- 
ness. But those who haye observed the 
orange flower only in the conventional 
bridal wreath have seen but a poor coun- 
terfeit presentment of the real blossom. 

The fruit sets in February or March and 
attains its maturity one year thereafter, 
when the tree blossoms again. At the time 
of blooming one may see it loaded with its 
jrolden fruitage and dazzling with bloom. 
The contrast of these colors with the dark 
green of the foliage forms a most enchant- 
ing picture. The tree is itself a bride, 
clothed in satin emerald, crowned with a 
snowy wreath and decked with precious 
jewels. 

The orange clings to its stem with great 
tenacity, and it is not unusual to find fruit 
of a forn^er year's growth still on the tree 
when a second crop is attaining maturity*. 
The quality deteriorates however if it is 
allowed to remain long after maturity. In 
time the juice is absorbed entirely, leaving 
the pulp a dry, spongy mass. 

Concerning the capacity of production, 
there is great variance. ^Nfr. H. M. Beers 
has the largest tree in Kiverside. It is 
seventeen years old, and the trunic meas- 
ures three feet in circumference, ornearly 
twelve inches in diameter. At the age of 
nine years it bore about half a dozen or- 
anges; at eleven years it bore two thou- 
sand; at thirteen years it bore two thou- 
sand two hundred and fifty; at fifteen 
years it bore four thousand; at seventeen 



years, which brings it to the present sea* 
son, it contains, according to estimate, 
four thousand. Not every orange tree 
l^resents such a record as this, however. 

The orange tree revels in a high temper- 
ature. In fact, very warm weather is es- 
sential to the raising of good fruit. It is 
not sufiicient that the warm w'eather occur 
in summer,, but a high average must be 
maintained in winter as well, and the ex- 
treme should never fall below a certain, 
point. This point may be placed at 23 de- 
grees above zero F.— 9 degrees below the 
freezing temperature. A cold spell that 
reaches this extreme will destroy young 
orange trees in nursery and nip the ten- 
der growth of older trees. In the latter 
part of January, 1883, the thermometer 
reached 17 degrees above zero in many 
places in Southern California. That was 
an unprecedentedly cold wave. Oranges^ 
were frozen on the trees, and their juices 
utterly destroyed. The trees themselves 
were frosted at the extremities of their 
branches, but suffered no serious check. 
Younger trees were considerably injured^ 
and nursery stock was frozen to the 
ground. The lemon trees suffered more 
than the orange,^ and many lime orchards 
were utterly destroyed. 

While the full-grown orange tree wili 
survive a good deal of cold weather, aad 
is not destroyed by the extreme above 
named, it may still be set down as a safe 
proposition that the less frequently the 
thermometer goes below the freezing 
point (32 degrees above zero) the better it 
is for both tree and fruit. 

The orange is long-lived. An instance 
is on record of a tree in Italy living to the 
age of four hundred years. But that vva» 
with the most careful treatment, through, 
successive generations, with repeated re- 
newals of the soil. As we grow the or- 
ange tree in the open air, with a minimum 
of attention, a century would probably be 
its full span. But a hundred years is a 
long time to exist on this earth, and after 
such a life of usefulness, if there is any 
better vegetable kingdom elsewhere, the 
orange tree ought to be allowed to go 
there. 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOENIA. 



21 



CHAPTER XIL 



BUDDED VARIETIES. 



Although there area hundred, or more 
named oranges, one might count on his 
lingers all the varieties that are in request 
for budding. The leading varieties are the 
Riversaide Navel, Mediterranean Sweet, 
Paper Rind St. Michael and Maltese Blood-, 
all foreign fruits. Some attention was 
paid a few years ago to the Konah , Wil- 
son's Best, Wolfskin's Best, Baldwin's 
Favorite, Du Roi, Australian Nav«l, Aca- 
pulco, Nicaraguan and some otlier varie- 
ties, but these no longer hold their own 
in the struggle for the survival of the fit- 
test. In fact every other orange is giving 
way to the Riverside Navel, which has 
come to be universally acknowledged the 
best. For variety, a small proportion of 
Mediterranean Sweet, St. Michael and 
Maltese Blood are planted, and it is likely 
that other kinds will find their way to a 
share of popular favor. But it must be a 
fine orange that wrests the palm from the 
Riverside Navel. As public opinion was 
a number of years in coming to this con- 
clusion however, and meanwhile the hon- 
ors were more or less divided, a large 
number of other varieties were planted 
and are coming into bearing. The budded 
fruit product of the State will be diversi- 
fied enough to suit all requirements. 

For convenience of reference, I append 
a list of varieties grown in California, and 
also give a list of varieties grown in Flor- 
ida, which have not been introduced in 
this State. 

Riverside Navel — also known as 
Washington Navel, Umbilical, Bahia, Em- 
bigou). — Medium size, round, skin smooth 
and of fine texture ; nearly seedless ; 
juicy; high flavored > pulp melting; 
quality the best. The peculiarity which 
gives this fruit its name and marks it be- 
yond any question is a protuberance in 
the blossom end which closely resembles 
the human navel. This is in reality a lit- 
tle kernel, enveloped in the skin, which 
when examined proves to be an al)orted 
orange. The tree is semi-dwarf, and has 
a few small thorns. In 1873 the Agricul- 
tural Department at Washington imported 
.several orange trees from Bahia, Brazil, 



One of these was sent to Mrs. L. C. Tib- 
bits, of Riverside, San Bernardino county, 
this state, who distributed a few buds 
among some friends. But little attention 
was paid to the original tree or to its off- 
spring until 1879, when some of the fruits 
were exhibited. Their beautiful color, 
peculiar form, and excellent quality at- 
tracted immediate attention, and stimu- 
lated its propagation. It was named River- 
side Navel to distinguish it from the Aus- 
tralian Navel, introduced about the same 
time. The latter is distinctly ribbed 
lengthwise, of light color and inferior 
quality, while the Riverside is smooth, of 
a golden bronze tint and a fine texture ; 
satin-like skin ; its flavor is delicious- 
something like a combinatien of the best 
qualities of the Messina and Florida or- 
anges — and the fruit has the additional ad- 
vantage of few or no seeds. Since the 
Riverside Navel made its appearance it 
has eclipsed all competitors, and has taken 
first premiums wherever exhibited. Soon 
after it was brought to 'public notice, Mr. 
T. W. Cover, of Riverside, became pro- 
prietor of the original stock, and he dis- 
seminated buds throughout the orange- 
growing portion of tlie State. 

Mediterranean Sweet.— Medium to 
large ; oval ; pulp and skin of fine tex- 
ture ; flavor delicate, less acid than any 
other variety of orange grown here ; near- 
ly seedless ; ripens late. The tree is a 
semi-dwarf, almost thornless, matures 
early, and has a tendency to overbear. 
Fruit should be thinned vigorously to in- 
sure a fair growth of wood and develop- 
ment of fruit remaining. Mr. Thos. A. 
Garey, who introduced this orange, says 
of it : "About the year 1870 I imported 
several varieties of orange trees from 
Messrs. EUwanger <fe Barry's nursery at 
Rochester, New York. I think the im- 
portation included all the varieties oftered 
for sale by this firm. One of the trees wa» 
labeled maddock. When the Shaddock 
fruited, the fruit proved to lie a first-class 
orange, instead of the coarse, worthless 
fruit its name led me to expect. I called 
it * 'Garey 's Favorite,' but subsequently 



22 



THE OBANGE; 



christened it 'Garey's Mediterranean 
&weet.' Messrs. Ellwanger <fe Barry were 
appealed to, but could not identify the 
fruit with any known variety." Next to 
the Washington Navel, the Mediterranean 
Sweet has attained the greatest popularity 
of any of the budded kinds. 

Thin -Skinned or Paper Rind St. 
Michael. — Fruit small, round, thin- 
skinned, high-flavored and a delicious 
sub-acid ; one of the best budded varieties 
and destined to increase in popularity ; 
keeps well and therefore a good shipper. 
A vender once told me they sold on the 
streets of Los Angeles better than any 
other variety he could obtain. Trees 
dwarfish in habit, thorny. 

Maltese Blooi>.— This variety derives 
its name from the peculiar marking of the 
pulp, which seems to be streaked and 
©lotted with blood. This queer character- 
istic varies with fruit from different trees, 
different ages of trees, and in different 
stages of ripeness, in some instances be- 
ing barely traceable and in others the 
blood-red stain suffusing the entire pulp. 
The older the tree grows the more marked 
the fruit. The Maltese Blood is a little un- 
der medium size, smooth, round and fine 
textured; juicy; high-flavored, and the 
pulp tender and melting. The tree is a 
semi-dwarf ; thornless or only slightly 
thorny. 

KoNAii. — A California seedling from 
seed grown on Konah Island; most of the 
characteristics of a first-class seedling, the 
chief advantage being in the uniformity of 
fruit; thick rind, juicy, large. The tree 
grows to the full size of a seedling and is 
thorny. 

Du Roi.— Size medium, round, skin 
tirra; quality good, fruit apt to be ribbed 
.somewhat like a musk melon. Trees pro- 
lific, vigorous, few thorns. Long grown 
in Florida and imported from there. 

Acapulco. — Tree a vigorous, strong 
grower; rind, thick and rough; pulp, 
coarse; flavor, good; regular but late 
bearer. 

Wilson's Best.—A seedling of the latter 
class, originally grown by Hon. B. D. 
Wilson. AH the characteristics of a good 
seedling. 

WoLFSK ill's Best.— Originated by Mr. 
Wolfskin, of IjOh Angeles, and answering 



the same general description as the above, 

Baldwin's Favorite. — Originated by- 
Mr. E. J. Baldwin, of Los Angeles county. 
Same as above. 

NiCARAGUAN. — A seedling from fruit- 
brought from the peninsula by Dr. J. 
Shaw twenty-five years ago. Fruit very 
large, thick skinned. 

HoMOSAssA.* — Of Florida origin; size of 
fruit medium, somewhat flattened, very 
heavy; color bright; skin very smooth^ 
thin, tough and dense; pulp fine, sweet 
and juicy; flavor full and vinous; mem- 
brane covering segments of pulp very 
thin and small; ripens very early and 
keeps and carries well; quality best. Tree 
prolific, vigorous, very tliorny. 

Tangerine, Mandarin, or Kid-Glove 
Orange.— This is a dwarf both in tree apd 
fruit, and has been grown for ornamenrr 
and curiosity more than for any other 
purpose. I see, however, that its cultiva- 
tion is extending in Florida to supply a 
certain dilettante custom, which likes to 
eat its orange without soiling its gloves. 
The fruit is very small, saffron-colored^ 
flattened at the ends, and the skin x^arta 
readily from the pulp, while the pulp di- 
vides readily into sections without the 
loss of juice. It has a peculiar fragrance 
and flavor, but altogether amounts to little 
more than a bon-bon. Its use is only a 
passing fancy, I think, and a man would 
hardly be justified in planting a large 
grove of Tangerines. The tree, or shrub^ 
as it might be termed, is regarded by some 
botanists as a distinct species, and by 
others as a marked variety of the sweet 
orange. It is very ornamental, being dis- 
tinguished by its small, lanceolate leaves; 
slender, tlexible branches; somewhat for- 
mal habit of growth, and the flowei*s, 
which are white and smaller than those of 
the ordinary oraifge. 

PuMALO. — A dwarf tree with peculiar 
glossy foliage, leaves drawn as if by a 
puckering string, and a fruit as large as 
the baby's head. Not good to eat. Grown 
for ornament only. 

B12RGAMOT. — Fruit large, rough, flat- 
tened ; quality fair; leaves large and 
broadly winged; when bruised give forth 

*A few trees of this variety are to be fotiad oii 
Mr. A. S. White's place. Riverside. The friiit is of 
fair quality. 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



23 



a delicious aroma not unlike that of berg- 
amot, from which peculiarity the tree de- 
rives its name. Grown mostly for orna- 
ment and curiosity. 

Besides the above, Mr. Garey enumer- 
ates the following forty varieties whicli 
be imported or propagated: 

Large St. Michael. — Thick skinned ; 
inferior. 

Small St. MiCHAEL.-Doubtf ui whether 
it is an established variety, but, if so, en- 
tirely distinct from the Paper Rind St. 
Michael ; small, tnick skinned ; inferior. 

Maltese Oval.— Not fruited. 

Los Angeles. — Common Seedling. 

Chuchupillas. — Mexican, not fruited. 

Bitter.— Bigarade of Florida. 

Myrtle Leaf. — Ornamental only. 

Pernambuco.— Not fruited. 

White Orange.— Pulp white, inferior. 

Variegated Orange. — Ornamental 
only. 

Exquisite.— Small ; no value. 

Sandw^ich Island.— Small and yery 
sour ; no value. 

Large Chinese.— Not fruited. 

Prolific— Not fruited. 

Forbidden Fruit.— Not fruited. 

Emperor Mandarin.— Dwarf fruit ; 
fair ; not equal to Mandarin. 

Coolie Mandarin. — Tall, standard tree; 
thorny ; fruit, dwarf. 

Dwarf Mandarin.— Dwarf tree ; fruit 
identical with that of the standard Coolie 
Mandarin above. 

Canton Mandarin.— Not fruited. 

Thorny Mandarin. — Not fruited. 

Emperor of China.— Not fruited. 

St. Jago.— Not fruited. 

Egg.— Not fruited. 

Nutmeg. — Not fruited. 

Seville.— Not fruited. 

Rio.— Not fruited. 

Teneriffe.— Not fruited. 

Paramatta.— Not fruited. 

Heong Leong.— Not fruited. 

Sabina.— Not fruited. 

Cumquat.— Not fruited. 

Queen. — Quality fair. 

Poor Man's Orange. — Not fruited. 

Seletto. — Not fruited. 

Bouquet. — Blooms continuously ; very 
ornamental. 

Tahiti. — Seedling; same as common 
Los Angeles fruit. 



Loretto.— Not fruited. 

ElxcELsiOR.— Fruited ; thought to be a 
fine variety and a possible acquisition t^> 
our budded fruits. 

Florida Seedling.— Same as Los An- 
geles Seedling. 

Portugal.— No value. 

The following varieties grown in Florida 
are held in high esteem there, but have- 
never been cultivated in California, so fav 
as I am informed. For this list I am. 
mainly indebted to Manville's Practical- 
Orange Culture : 

Early Oblong.— Synonym, T/iornlesH^ 
Bell.— Fruit medium size, oblong, thick 
skin ; lacking the sub-acid of other sorts ; 
quality fair. Though its color does no^t 
turn much before the other sorts, its Juices 
attain perfection one ortwomontbs earlier^ 
when it should be marketed. Tree bears 
young ; prolific ; vigorous ; not as large 
as some ; leaves elliptical, acute and. scat- 
tering ; branches slender and thornless. 
Originally imported, but long grown in 
Florida. 

Satsuma. — For the following description 
of this tree I am indebted to Mr. A. F. 
Styles, of Jacksonville. He writes : 

" This new Japanese Orange was intro- 
duced into Florida several years since, by 
Mrs. General Vanvalkenburg, of St. Nich- 
olas, and is destined to take high rank 
among the new varieties. The tree is of 
dwarf habit of growth, entirely thornless, 
and very hardy. In the cold 'snap' of 
December, 1880, the leaves of tliis tree did 
not even curl, while all other varieties, 
with the same exposure, lost ail their 
leaves. It is sure to bear the second year 
from budding, and it will bear too heavily 
unless prevented by tliinning. It liiake.s^ 
a much more vigorous and thrifty tree, if 
budded on a sweet stock, in preference to 
the sour, or bitter-sweet. 

" Of the fruit, Dr. Davis, in his book on 
orange culture, says ; ' This fruit belongs 
to the loose-rind species, Citrus Auranti- 
um Japonicum, is medium size, flattened, 
deep orange color, smooth, thin skin^ 
which is sweet, aromatic and easily de- 
tached from the pulp. Color of pulp;^ 
dark orange; segments part freely; fine> 
grain, tender, juicy, sweet and delicious^ 
There is none of that i-ank odor which 
characterizes most other varieties belong- 



24 



THE ORANGE, 



ing to the same class aud species. It is 
destined to take high rank as a table and 
dessert fruit.' " 

Nonpareil.— Size above medium, some- 
what flattened, color ordinary, grain fine, 
ljulp melting and tender, juice sub-acid 
and vinous. Quality best. Tree prolific 
and very thorny. Native seedling. 

HiGGiNS. — Medium, fair; skin smooth 
and thin; pulp fine, juicy, sweet and ex- 
cellent. This variety was awarded twice 
the first premium at the State fair, for 
quality. 

Old V INI.— Size above medium; color, 
dark orange; skin rather rough, medium; 
pulp rather coarse, juicj^, sweet and re- 
markable for a sprightly aromatic flavor. 

Tardiff. — Large, dark orange; skin 
smooth and thin; pulp rather tough; grain 
fine, juicy and sweet; an ordinary orange, 
butvaluble for its late ripening qualities. 

Arcadia.— Size large, color deep, skin 
smooth, medium; pulp deep rich color, 
coarse melting, juicj'- and sub-acid. 

SwEirr Seville. — Small, color dark; 
skin thin, pulp very fine, juicy, melting 
and very sweet and sprightly. 

Other varieties named but not requiring 
special description : 

Phillip's Bitter Sweet. 

Drunnett. 

I3IX0N. 



Spratt's Harum. 
Parson Brown. 
Egg. 

Bijou— Dancy's Tangerine. 

Peerless— Synonym, RemherVs Best. — 
Large; round; color, light clear orange; 
skin smooth, fine and thin; juicy; juice 
sub-acid; flavor delicious; quality best. 
Tree prolific, vigorous and very thorny. 
Native seedling. 

Magnum Bonum.— Size large to very 
large; flattened; color light, clear orange; 
skin smooth and glossy, grain fine, ten- 
der and melting; fruit heavy and juicy; 
juice sweet, rich and vinous; quality best. 
Tree prolific, vigorous and very thorny. 
Native seedling. 

Sour. — Large; color dark; grain coarse; 
inner rind bitter,; juice acid. Retains its 
perfection throughout the summer, when 
it is much prized for its refreshing acid 
juice; used also for making marmalade 
and conserves. The tree bears young; 
very prolific; vigorous; makes a desirable 
and ornamental shade tree. Native wild 
orange of Florida. 

Bitter Sweet.— Medium size; juice 
sweet and pleasant when separated from 
the inner bitter rind. Used in summer as 
a subsitute for the sweet fruit. Tree in- 
distinguishable from the above. Native 
wild orange of Florida. 



Part II. 

PRACTICAL ORANGE CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 



P R O P A ( 

When it came to planting ray orange 
orchard, I found the buying of young- 
trees at 75 cents apiece a severe strain up- 
on my resources. To grow my own stock 
from the seed was not to be thought of, 
since that would involve a delay of three 
or four years. Time is money in fruit 
growing. So I hit upon the plan of buy- 
ing trees for my own orchard and plant- 
ing seeds for some other man's orchard; 
paying tribute myself and taking letters 
of marque and reprisal against the next 
generation of orange planters. The idea 
was by no means original, for I found an 
old gentleman in Pasadena who had car- 
ried out the scheme before me. He had 
reared his nursery in the open spaces be- 
tween his rows of orange trees, and he 
told me that from less than an acre thus de- 
voted he had realized $600. His success as 
an amateur propagator was marked, for I 
found in his nursery the finest and health- 
iest trees in the market. His example, 
no doubt, had much to do with confirm- 
ing my purpose to plant seeds. 

After reading all the available authori- 
ties on propagation, and consulting all of 
the nurserymen of my acquaintance, I 
did as most people do who take advice — 
followed a plan of my own. As my 
method proved quite successful I venture 
a description of it. Perhaps it will be of 
service to some reader in forming a plan 
of his own better than mine. I do not 
claim to have originated anything in the 
matter of propagation, but merely to 
have studied the delicate requirements of 
the orange seed and plant, applying there- 
to the most suitable and, at the same 
time, the most labor-saving methods 
which I could devise. 

Time.— I planted in June. 

Boxes. — From a fruit jobbing firm I 
obtained a quantity of boxing material in 
the "shook." Size of boxes: Eighteen 
inches square and five inches deep. They 



ation. 

were a kind known as "peach boxes," 
and being of a size out of use I got them 
for nine cents apiece— about one-half mar- 
ket rates. The making of 160 of these 
boxes required two days. They were 
fastened staunchly with four and six 
penny nails, the lids, of course, not 
placed. 1 followed the ijrecaution of 
leaving cracks of a quarter of an inch 
between the bottom boards to facilitate 
drainage. 

Soil. — While the boxes were making 
the Chinaman was engaged hauling and 
preparing the soil to fill them. In the 
bottom of a ravine, among the oak trees, 
I found a sediment deposited by the win- 
ter flood, which seemed to be the lighter 
and finer particles waslied from the soil 
above. It formed a compact, grayish- 
black mass, whioti cracked open as the 
moisture dried out of it, and one could 
pull it up in cakes. Its weight was only 
about two-thirds that of average soil. It 
crumbled readily between the fingers, 
leaving a powder almost as fine and soft 
as flour. "This," I said to myself, "is 
humus, and as near the pure article as 
Nature ever prepares it." So I had Ah 
Ngoon haul a quantity of the sediment, 
I prepared it for use by pulverizing and 
then passing through a screen, and at the 
same time adding a third part of sifted 
sand. This mixture made a warm, mel- 
low, rich soil, free from gravel and all 
other obstructions, and one also which 
would not pack under the repeated appli- 
cation of water. It proved to be remark- 
ably free from wild seeds, thus obviating 
a deal of laborious weeding. In fact it 
was the very ne plus ultra of a propagat- 
ing soil, according to my notion. I would 
not know how to improve it in a single 
particular were I planting again. 

Filling thh Boxes. — From the pile of 
prepared soil we filled each box about 
two-thirds full, striking ©If the top to a 



28 



THE OEANGE; 



level surface. For a striker I used a little 
board, notched, as shown in the accom- 
l^anying diagram, to allow the lower edge 
to play freely inside the box an inch and 
a half below the top edge. 



THE STRIKER. 

Placing the BoiES. — The ground 
where the propagating boxes were to be 
located had previouslj^ been graded to a 
level. As each box was in turn filled and 
leveled, it was placed m position where it 
was to remain through the season. Nar- 
row strips of lumber were laid on the 
ground for the boxes to rest upon, thus 



I obtained some well -matured seedling 
fruit. A quantity of cullings — thorned 
and partially rotted fruit — thrown out by 
a packing house, served the purpose, and 
my only expense was the hauling. I have 
since usea seeas irom imported Tahiti 
oranges. The foreign seeds are plumper 
amd more fertile. These I ordered from a 
San Francisco importing house, and the 
expense, delivered, was $7 per barrel of 
rotted oranges. A barrel yielded about 
eight thousand seeds. In my first plant- 
ing, however, the native seeds did fairly. 

Extracting the Seeds.— In using fruit 
that was sound, or nearly so, I made a 
latitudinal cut about the orange, taking 
care that the knife penetrated only a part 
of the way through the pulp. The halves 



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□□□□□□□nnnnnnnnn 

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□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ 

arrangement of the boxes. 



admitting a free circulation of air beneath 
for warmth and drainage. There wer« 
four tiers of boxes, the two outside con- 
taining two rows each; the inner, three 
■each. This made ten rows, with sixteen 
boxes to the row— altogether 160 boxes. 
Jietween the tiers alley-ways, eighteen 
inches wide, gave access to every part of 
the bed. No alleys were left around the 
outside. From any alley I could reach 
over the lirnt row of boxes and work in 
the second row without inconvenience. 
.Skei>h.— For seed, in my first planting, 



were then torn apart, and the seeds forced 
out by pressing down upon the pulp with 
the ball of the thumb. In handling 
thorciighly rotted fruit I used a sieve with 
quarter-inch mesh. In this the pulp was 
thoroughly macerated and washed with 
water. The finer particles passed through 
the sieve, and the skins and coarser parts 
were picked out, leaving the seeds sepa- 
rated and clean. The seeds should not be 
allowed to dry befoie planting. I kept 
mine in a bucket of water until used. I 
tried, to a certain extent, the Mediterra- 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA. 



29 



nean plan of throwing out the seeds that 
floated in the water, but It quickly became 
apparent that this was no test for them, 
the difference in specific gravity being so 
slight and variable that half the seeds 
that floated in the evening would be at the 
bottom in the morning, and vice versa. 
With native seeds the only test that seems 
worthy of mention is that of size and 
plumpness, the fuller being the more fer- 
tile. With Tahiti seeds, however, the test 
may be applied with advantage. Put the 
seeds in water and reject all that float. 

Pbeparatory 
TO Plantig.-As 
soon as a row of 
boxes was iu 
place, I sprink- 
led them lightly 
to give consist- 
ency to the soil 
for convenience 
of working. 
Then I wont 
over them with 
an implement 
which, for lack 
of a better name, 
I call— 

A Stamper.— A board nineteen inches 
square, perforated with auger holes an 
inch and a half apart, and a round-headed 
pin (I used old-fashioned clothes-pins) in- 
serted in each hole. There were one hun- 
dred and fourteen pins, and these, when 



staritper, which, fitting snugly outside the 
box, guided the appliance as it w as low- 
ered to place. 

Inserting the Seeds. — The stamping 
completed, it was next in order to drop a 
seed — one only — in each indentation. 

Covering. — As soon as a box had re- 
ceived its complement of seeds, a layer of 
half an inch of the same prepared soil 
was added, thus covering the seeds se- 
curely and evenly. The final leveling of 
the surface was performed by a striker 
exactly like the one first named only not 





the stamper. 

the itamper was applied with considera- 
ble pressure upon the plastic surface of 
the soil in the box, left one hundred and 
fourteen little indentations. Accuracy in 
the matter of stamping was promoted by 
a couple of cleats on opposite sides of the 



the propagating house. 

notched so deeply. The soil as finally 
leveled was an inch below the rim of the 
box. The final operation was 

Wetting — Which was done as soon as 
a row of boxes had been planted and lev- 
eled. With a fine rose sprinkler attached 
to the hose, I sprayed the boxes until the 
soil was well moistened. My bed of one 
hundred and sixty boxes contained a little 
more than eighteen thousand seeds. 

A Propagating House. — This was al- 
ready occupied before it was built. I had 
" anticipated," as the novelists say; but 
this was done designedly, because I 
thought it would be easier to build the 
house over the boxes after they had been, 
planted and arranged than to move the 
boxes, after planting, into the house. My 
propagating house was a very simple af- 
fair, though entirely different from the 
muslin covering usually prescribed in 
such cases. I built, in fact, a structure 
quite similar to a chicken coop, roofed over 
with lath. The house was twenty feet \)Y 
thirty in ground dimensions and six feet 



THE ORANGE; 



high. This was a little larger than my 
bed of one hundred and sixty boxes re- 
(juired, but I provided for extra '* elbow 
room." The framework of the house was 
of two by three redwood stuff, posts six. 
feet apart, and a row of posts standing 
longitudinally through the middle fplant- 
ed in the central alley) to sustain the roof. 
All of the lath work for sides and roof was 
built in detached panels, the roof panels 
being merely laid on a framework provid- 
ed for that purpose, and the side panels 
tacked on so that they could all be re- 
moved at will. In the winter when my 
young trees needed all the sunshine they 
could get, these panels were taken off the 
soiith and east sides and the top. Thus I 
got a good exposure without moving the 
boxes. Around the sides of the house for 
the height of two feet there was a base of 
three inch strips with open spaces of an 
inch between. These were deisgned to re- 
main permanently as a guard against dep- 
redating animals. The movable side panels 
were fitted above this base. The general 
appearance of the house is represented in 
the foregoing cut. 

Objects and Advantages. — The main 
object of this lath structure built over 
the propagating boxes was to supply 
a semi-shade for the young plants, 
as they could not endure the full glare of 
the summer sun. The particular advant- 
ages which I claim for my propagating 
house over a muslin covering are its free 
admission of light and air, its easy access- 
ibility and the excellent protection which 
it offers from animals. When cloth is 
used for a shade there is much trouble in 
removing the covering when one wishes 
to get at the plants. Then, too, the boxes 
<annot be grouped so compactly, but need 
to be strung out in long tiers. But the old 
way of propagating does not contemplate 
boxes at all, the seeds being sown broad- 
cast in a bed and afterwards transplanted. 
The advantages which I gain from the 
boxes are these : 

1. The seeds being distributed regularly 
and not too close together, each plant has 
abundance of room from the outset. 

2. No transplanting is necessary until 
the trees are a year old, when they can be 
l)la<5ed in the nursery rows at once. 

3. In transplanting, the boxes may be 



hauled to the nursery and the trees left 
undisturbed until each, in turn, is set into 
the ground. 

4. By the use of the Widney transplant- 
er, or some similar device, a ball of earth 
may be taken up wdth each tree, thus 
avoiding an exposure of the roots to sun 
and air and greatly augmenting the 
chances of life and thrift in the young 
tree. 

Expense.— The items of expense of my 
seed and planting (native seeds) and prop- 
agating house were as follows : 
One hundred and sixty boxes at nine cents . . $14 40 



Making same, two days at $2.50 5 00 

Hauling and preparing soil , 3 00 

Planting seeds 10 00 

Propagating house 35 00 

Total $67 4a 



The items for propagating house and 
boxes need not be considered an irreme- 
diable expense, as the boxes will serve 
for another season's propagation, if de- 
sired, and the house will do for many sea- 
sons, or it may be readily converted to 
other uses. The panels being all detached 
are immediately serviceable for a fence or 
chicken coop. 

Convenient to Water. — My propa- 
gating house was located close to a hy- 
drant, and by attaching a hose and using 
a rose nozzle I could irrigate the en- 
tire bed in twenty minutes. I took care 
at first not to allow the surface of the soil 
to become dry. It was necessary to irri- 
gate every alternate day. 

Mulching.— The retention of moisture 
was greatly promoted by a mulching of 
wheat chaff, which I spread over the 
boxes immediately after planting the 
seeds. I took care that my chaff was 
thoroughly freed from wheat before put- 
ting it on, as there was no room in the 
boxes to raise grain. 

Danger iN too Much Moisture.— 
The boxes must not be kept too wet. I 
lost some young plants from what nur- 
sey-men call "damping off,"— the roots 
rotting and the stems and leaves turning 
yellow and withering. As stated, I 
sprinkled my bed every alternate day to 
begin with. This plan was followed well 
through the summer, when the irrigations 
were reduced to two a week, then one a 
week, and finally, when the winter rains 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



31 



set in, discontinued altogether. The loss 
of plants from dampiuf? otf was inconsid- 
erable, and due, I am led to believe, more 
to imperfect drainage in some of the boxes 
than to an excess of water applied. In ir- 
rigating, however, it should be borne in 
mind_that the earth needs simply a good 
moistening, not a soaking. 

Gkbmination of the Seeds. — Six 
weeks after planting, the greenish- 
jellow orange shoots began to appear in 
the boxes. They came along quite irreg- 
ularly, but in three months the quota was 
well filled. Some seeds, lacking vitalitj'-, 
sent up weak and spindling shoots ; oth- 
ers, from an excess of germinative force 
produced twins. Some of the former died, 
and the latter I thinned out to one stalk 
apiece, putting the extra plante in vacant 
places. 

Weeding. —Two thorough weedings, 
with a little attention in snipping out ir- 
regular interlopers, sufficed to keep the 
bed clean the yoar through. Herein, as 
stated, I experienced the benefits of a clean 
soil. Had I used manure instead of nat- 
ural mold there would have been far more 
of this business on my hands. A cover- 
ing of green moss, which formed on the 
sui-face of the boxes toward the latter part 
of summer, gave me some apprehension, 
and I broke it up once by stirring the soil 
between the young plants and omitting 
an irrigation or two; but it came back 
during the winter, and I allowed it to re- 
mam as no harm appeared to result. In 
the next planting I obviated this difficulty 



by making the covering of clean sand in- 
stead of the prepared soil. 

Enemies to the Young Plants.— I 
lost a number of plants through the dep- 
redations of a pair of linnets, which 
seemed to take great delight in nipping: 
off the tender new growth, I succeeded 
finally in scaring the little fiends away. 
The next trouble came from a family of 
toads that attempted to squat on my 
claim. These I carried out by the hind 
legs. A rabbit got into the inclosure on 
one occasion and mowed down some of 
the trees. He did not come again . These, 
with the damping off, were the only fatal- 
ities which overtook my young nursery. 
But under different circumstances new 
enemies might appear. It is advisable 
for one to keep a sharp lookout continu- 
ally, for, in the words of the hymn, "Ten 
thousand foes arise." 

FROTECTio5<r FROM CoLD. —During two 
or three cold spells which occurred in tho 
winter, I kept the young trees covered 
with gunny sacks and such other old 
cloths as were available. 

The 0UTC03IE. — In June, one year after 
planting the seeds, I was ready to transfer 
my stock to the nursery rows. From tho 
18,000 seeds planted there were 10,000 trees, 
ranging in height from four to twelve 
inches. Had I chosen to sell them they 
would have brought me two and one-half 
cents apiece, or an aggregate of |250, 
which would have paid fairly for the in- 
vestment and labor. , 



CHAPTER II. 

PLANTING THE NUltSERY. 



Location.— Much may be said about 
locating a nursery, but all the rules pre- 
scribed can not obviate the necessity for a 
study of the special requirements in each 
ease. To a certain extent, ev^ry nursery 
is a law unto itself. There are peculiari- 
ties of soil, of situation, of surroundings, 
of climate, which must be considered 
Jointly and severally. So far as lies in 



human prevision, every obstacle ought to 
be anticipated and forestalled. A failure 
to do this in some apparently trivial par- 
ticular may entail endless unnecessary 
labor, vexations, losses, and perhaps ulti- 
mate discouragement and disaster. Some 
good man has said there are no little sins; 
in nursery planting there are no little 
mistakes. 



32 



THE ORANGE; 



Geneijal Requirements. — The re- 
el uiremeiits of a nursery may be generally 
wtated as follows: 

1. Accessibility and convenience to 
market. 

2. A rich, mellow soil. 
.'3. A warm situation. 

4. Abundance of water. 

5. Convenient irrigation. 

Soil.— Provided the elements of strength 
are there, the looser and more friable the 
soil the better the trees will flourish. 
Any ground that bakes hard should be 
avoided. Do not plant yowv nursery on 
adobe land. Trees cannot flourish with 
tlieir roots in vulcanized casings. But^ in 
avoiding the extreme of stiff soils, do not 
run to the other extreme of too sandy 
ground. A certain proportion of humus 
and some tenacity in the soil are necessary 
to retain moisture and to give the trees a 
good footing. Then, too, b^ar in mind 
that, by and by, when it comes to taking 
lip, the trees, you may want to ball the 
roots. This you cannot do unless the 
earth has a good deal of coherence. Ball- 
ing is not a .sine qua no7i, as will be ex- 
plained subsequently, and I would npt 
advise the abandonment of a generally 
good location for the single objection that 
tlie ground is too loose to ball. The choco- 
late-colored clayey sands or sandy clays, 
wliich abound in our foothills, are the 
happy medium of a nursery soil, being 
stiir enough to ball, but not inclined to 
bake, if fairly cultivated. 

A^Ei.ii Dhainkd. — It is necessary that 
the ground for a nursery should be well 
drained; /. c, there should Ije no standing 
water close to tlie surface, rendering the 
soil cold and sodden. 

Topograph v.— Opinions are divided as 
to the comparative advantages of a level 
piece of ground or one with a gentle slope 
to the south ward. The sloping land has 
the warmer exposure and is likely to be 
better drained. The level land is more 
cionvenient for irrigation. But whether 
the ground be Hat or sloping, before the 
trees are planted it should be graded to as 
near a perfect plane as possible. Leave 
no basins or hummocks anywhere; they 
won't do, as you will find at your cost if 
you attempt to run water over them, 
through them or around them. Your 



graded plane may have a uniform pitch of 
a foot in one hundred in the direction you 
mtend to irrigate; half a foot would be 
better in most localities. If the nursery 
site is on a hillside sloping to the south, 
make the pitch for the purposes of irriga- 
tion east or west. You cannot, with ad- 
vantage, run water down any considera- 
ble slope. 

Preparation of the Soil. — The 
ground having been graded, it should be 
double-plowed and harrowed. This, if it 
be the kind here recommended, will re- 
duce the soil to the requisite tilth. If not 
perfectly pulverized with this treatment, 
it should be reduced still further with har- 
row or clod-crusher; but the better plan 
would be to pick out some other locality 
for your nursery. 

Arrangement op the Nursery. — 
When a nursery is planted on level 
ground, it is considered advisable to run 
the rows north and south, in order that 
the sun may have the greatest play upon 
the ground. On a southern slope the rows 
should be east and west, the matter of 
irrigation there assuming paramount im- 
portance. Located on more broken or 
irregular ground— say a series of knolls 
or hillsides— the contour system is adopt- 
ed, running the rows in curves and re- 
flexes—keeping always at a certain level 
practicable for leading water along the 
rows. The greatest objection to this sys- 
tem is that it makes cultivation difficult, 
sometimes precluding the use of horse 
jjower altogether. 

Room for Acce;ss and Working. — If 
your nursery is a large one, divide it into 
tablones, with drive-ways between and 
the rows not more than one hundred and 
fifty feet long. This gives convenient ac- 
cess to all parts of the nursery, and you 
do not have to carry the trees a great dis- 
tance in loading them into a wagon. It 
also allows space for turning, in cultiva- 
tion. 

Laying off the Ground.— The estab- 
lished way of planting nursery is in square 
or parallelogram form, with rows four 
feet apart and trees a foot apart in the 
rows. This gives 10,800 trees to the acre. 
The operation of laying off is very simple. 
The outlines of the nursery or of the tab- 
lone being established, stick stakes along 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



two opposite ends to deline the rows. 
Then stretch a rope or chain across the 
ground from stake to stake, and along 
this line plant the trees a foot apart. 

Various labor-saving methods are in 
vogue for spacing off the ground along 
the Ime, but none more ingenious and 
practical than that recommended by Mr. 
Thomas A. Garey in his i)ioneer work on 
California orange culture. He says: "For 
marking the spaces in the row, use a' tool 
made similar to a hand-roller with trian- 
gular pieces a few inches long fastened 
lengthwise and a foot apart. Four feet in 
circumference, or a small fraction more 
than fifteen and one-fourth inches in di- 
ameter, is a convenient size for the roller. 
To use this tool, take hold of the handles, 
place the roller on the tightly-stretched 
line, and push it forward or draw it after 
you al^ng the line; the pieces on the roller 
will mark crosswise of the line at regular 
distances of a foot. If any other distance 
be desired, it can be regulated by the di- 
ameter of the roller and the distance be- 
tween the strips. Remove the line to the 
next proposed row. This leaves a mark 
lengthwise crossed at regular distances, 
ready to receive the plants." 

This implement is available in planting 
large nurseries. For a small nursery, of 
course, the labor of making the roller 
would be greater than the marking off by 
some more clumsy method. 

Planting. — The accepted lime for plant- 
ing a nursery is in April and May, when 
damp, cool weather is apt to prevail. But, 
with proper safeguards, planting may be 
done in almost any month of the year 
when there is no danger from frost or 
very excessive heat. If your trees are 
propagated as mine were, in boxes, trans- 
planting is simple and sure. The work- 
man carries a box with him along the line 
and transfers each tree, with its ball of 
earth inclosing the roots, to a place in the 
row. 

The implement used for this is the in- 
vention of Judge R. M. Widney, of Los 
Angeles, and known as the Widney trans- 
planter. Not only is it a great labor-sav- 
ing device, but its use amounts almost to 
a guaranty of the life of the plant. With 
it I set a nursery of 4000 trees in the 
months of June and Jul v. Very hot 




weather followed, and the trees were not 
shaded, yet my loss did not exceed one 
per cent. 

The Widney Transplanter.— The ac- 
companying cut represents the trans- 
planter com- 
plete. The cyl- 
inder A is first 
used to cut a 
hole, U, in the 
ground where 
you wish^to set 
the plant. Next 
the transplanter 
is set down over 
the plant, so that ' 
t^he stem and 
leaves run up 

TRANSPLANTER t OM- ^vithin the iumde 

PLETE. cylinder^. The- 

outside cylinder is then passed down into 
the ground, giving it a slight rotary mo- 
tion, until you have cut to the depth de- 
sired, generally twa or four inches. In;, 
pressing down or* the handles care mustj 
be taken to keep the bands off the inside - 
cylinder which must be left to move 
freely. The rotary motion gives a sharpy . 
drawing cut. 

After cutting down around the plant to- 
the depth rec]uired, lift the transplanter; 

out of the ground. It 
will bring up the plant 
with a solid plug of 
earth, C, inside the 
cylinder. Now put 
the transplanter con- 
taining the plant into- 
the hole in the ground 
/), first cut. Set it 
down to the bottom of 
the hole, so that the 
bottom of the plug of" 
earth rests on the bot- 
hole; place 

INSIDE CYLINDER, two thumbs on top 
of the inside cylinder, retaining the hold on 
the handles with the fingers, and close the 
hand, thus drawing /f/) the outside cylin- 
der, while the inside cylinder thus holds 
the plug of dirt in the hole. The plug of " 
dirt is thus forced out of the transplanter 
as the wad is forced out of a pop-gun. 
W^hen this is done, the plant, with a solid 
plug of earth,. '^V^'^'il' be left in a hole sur- 




34 



THE ORANGE; 




PLANT KATSED WITH 
PLUG OF EARTH. 




HOLE CUT BY TEAXS- 
PLANTER. 



rounded by unmoved dirt. Tamp the 
earth a little to settle it about the plug, 
and the transplant- 
ing is complete. 
After a few experi- 
ments the work can 
be done with great 
rapidity. 

Concerning the 
planter Judge Wid- 
ney says: "Three 
years ago I com- 
menced to set out 
some 200 acres of 
eucalj'ptus trees. I 
raised the plants 
and put them in 
boxes 20x24, setting them two inches apart 
— the usual plan. To set them out in the 
field and not irri- 
gate, and do the 
work rapidly, was 
the question. The 
result was this trans 
planter. With it 
one man will take 
the boxes of plants and set out 600 to 
1000 trees per day, nine feet apart. I set 
out over 100,000 plants, and not one plant 
in 100 died from transplanting." 

Irrigation. — As soon as planted the 
trees should be irrigated. This may be 
'best accomplished by making a slight 
trench along each side of the row and a 
lew inches therefrom, throwing the dirt 
away from the trees. Then lead the water 
along, and after it has thoroughly soaked 
•away use a hoe to draw the displaced 
earth back. The dry soil being left on 
top acts as a mulch to prevent evapora- 
tion. Under no circumstances should the 
soil remain unstirred after an irrigation, 
as it will bake and dry out, leaving the 
trees in a worse condition than if they 
they had been given no water at all. If 
the weather be warm and dry at the time 
of planting your nursery, an irrigation 
each week is not too much to begin with. 
The soil should not be allowed to dry 
within half an inch of the surface. Later, 
as the trees become well rooted, an irriga- 
tion each fortnight, and then one each 
month, will suffice. The second season 
the cultivation may be done by horse- 
power. 



After Care. — Directly after planting 
equip yourself with knife or scissors and 
trim up the little trees. Some of them 
will have two or three stems, and some 
will be throwing an undue proportion of 
their vitality into some favored limb. 
Trim them to a single stem and start 
them up in the Avay they should go. 
Afterwards replace all trees that die, so as 
to keep your rows full and regular. 
When grown to the height of two or three 
feet, your trees, or a part of them, may re- 
quire staking. If so, don't neglect this 
part of the work. You may think that 
the stalk will be cut down after a while, 
in budding, and it doesn't make much 
difference whether it grows straight or 
not. But it does. The more symmetrical 
you keep your nursery, the more pride 
you will take in it, the better you will do 
your work, and it will thrive jpropor- 
tionateiy. 

Free from Insects. — Watch your nur- 
sery with eagle eye that none of the pes- 
tiferous scale insects obtain lodgment 
there. If once thoroughly inoculated 
with red or white scale, it is all over with 
your project; nobody would buy the trees 
afterward, even though you succeeded in 
clearing out the pests. It is a good plan 
to wash the trees once or twice every year 
with a decoction of whale oil soap, as a 
measure of prevention. 

Free from Weeds. — I would enjoin 
the most thorough cultivation of the nur- 
sery, summer and winter, and keeping it 
entirelj^ free from weeds. But the pains- 
taking nurseryman will do this without 
special admonition. 

Pruning. — When the trees have been in 
nursery one year, they should be pruned 
slightly. Be careful not to carry the 
pruning to excess, and especially avoid 
making long willowy switc'hes with a 
mere tuft of leaves a-top. Rather follow 
the plan of keeping the small tree sym- 
metrical and well proportioned, exactly 
as you would a large one. Dispense with 
the lower branches gradually, and the 
trunk will grow up stocky and strong 
enough to support itself without staking. 
When trees are budded at the end of the 
first year in nursery, little pruning is re- 
quired; simply enough on one side to 
make room for the bud; and, after that 
starts, the entire top is cut away. 



ITS CULTUKE IX CALIFOKNIA. 



35 



CHAPT 

B U D D 

The general theory of extending and 
perpetuating varieties of fruits by bud- 
ding is too well understood to require 
■discussion here. While it may be said 
that the principle has found acceptance 
throughout the domain of horticulture, 
with the orange it has remained a mooted 
<[uestiou longer than with any other fruit. 
But here also science is gradually and 
surely gaining the day. It has been 
urged against budding the orange that 
the operation induces precocity, thereby 
dwarfing the tree, curtailing its produc- 
tive capacity and shortening its life. That 
budding induces precocity there is no 
question. While a seedling tree can not 
be relied upon to come into bearing until 
eight y^ars old, a budded tree will bear at 
live (i. €., the stock being five, the budded 
growth three). Whether buddmg dwarfs 
the tree or not depends entirely upon the 
habit of the tree from which the bud 
€omes. I have seen full-sized standard 
■trees from buds of the Konah, WolfskiU's 
Best and Cuban. The Washington Xavel, 
St. Michael, Mediterranean Sweet and 
Malta Blood makej^mder-sized trees. But 
by reason of theii' lesser size a greater 
number may be set to the acre, and thus, 
in full bearing, the yield may equal that 
of standard trees. But the quality waived 
■entirely;— allowing a smaller yield from 
budded trees — the difference in quality 
, must determine the matter in tiieir favor. 
In the scales of value a box of uniform 
Navels will outweigh three boxes of hit- 
and-miss seedlings. It must be remem- 
bered that there is no exact perpetuation 
of excellence by the seed. A seedling is a 
seedling, whether the seed be brought 
from Cuba, Australia or the Mediterranean 
country. The tree from foreign seed, 
being grown to maturity in our soil, gen- 
erally partakes of the characteristics of 
native stock; — producing a fruit with thick 
a-ind, and averaging with the rest in size 
and flavor. There is, in fact, no likelihood 
that any seedling will improve on these 
varieties already originated here, and 
which haye been givea the distinction of 
^ name, such as Wilson's and Wolfskill's 
Best, while there are many chances for it 



ER III. 

I X G . 

to drop far below mediocrity. With bud- 
ded fruit the case is quite different. Uni- 
formity of excellence is obtained in it. 
The evil results of the precocity alluded 
to may be obviated by rigorously thinning 
the fruit as the tree comes into bearing. 
In our climate, the tendency of all trees 
is to overbear at first; and if this is not 
curbed, their health and productiveness 
may be seriously impaired. Budded or- 
ange trees do not stand alone in this mat- 
ter, though they may present an extreme 
case. The fact remains that, if a man 
buds his trees and devotes to them some 
extra attention, he may hasten his returns 
three years and enhance the value of his 
fruit. Budding is in line with all other 
advanced scientific methods. What labor- 
saving machinery is to manual labor, and 
thoroughbred live stock to native breeds, 
the budded orange tree is to the seedling. 
Do not be behind the times. Bud your 
trees. Having determined this matter to 
my satisfaction, at least, I come to the 
modus operandi of budding. I am in- 
debted to Mr. J. M. Warner, a budder of 
long experience, for many practical sug- 
gestions contained herein. 

Time. — Buds are inserted in the fall- 
October and November — and in the spring 
and early summer — March to the last of 
June, the latter being much the more 
popular season. The exact time for bud- 
ding depends indirectly upon the weather 
and directly upon the condition of the 
stock to be budded. Buds inserted in 
the fall come under the designation of 
"dormant" as they do not start until the 
following spring. Then, of course, they 
begin early if at all, and therein lies the 
only advantage of fall budding. On the 
other hand, there is great danger that the 
buds may be killed by severe cold during 
the winter. Midsummer budding, al- 
though feasible, is condemned by the best 
authorities. The lateness of starting 
makes a short season's growth, and the 
wood being prematurely hardened by 
cold weather, the tree is stunted. The 
earlier in the spring that budding can be 
done in conformity with right principles, 
the better. 



36 



THE ORANGIE; 



CoNDJTiON OF THK Stock. — When the 
bark slips readily upon the stock, as it 
slipped on the willows in our whistle- 
making days, you may be sure it is in 
condition to be budded. Theoretically 
stated, the tree is then full of sap and in 
the active, growing condition requisite for 
infusing life into the extraneous bud in- 
serted in the bark. Experts may venture 
to anticipate this condition a little and bud 
trees when they are obliged to raise the 
bark with a knife, but they do it at the 
risk of losing their labor. A quick grovi'th 
of the tree immmediatelj'- after each bud- 
ding is done will alone render the opera- 
tion successful. Experienced budders 
(-Aaim that a larger percentage of buds 
grow of 'those inserted in the new of the 
moon than in the old. 

A<^E OF Stocks. — Trees planted in nur- 
mry in the spring are sometimes budded 
the following spring. But the majority 
of nurserymen do not bud their trees 
until the end of the second year in nur- 
sery. The stocks then shoot the buds 
more uniformly and vigorously than at 
the earlier age. Buddmg may be done 
from this time forward until the tree is 
fully grown, but the difficulty of starting 
increases with age. Ordinarily there is no 
reason for delaying the operation later 
than the end of the second year in nursery. 

Implements Required. — The outfit re- 
<iuired for budding comprises a pair of 
pruning shears of the ordinary pattern; a 
budding knife, a whetstone and strap, a 
brush and some tying twine. 

The budding knife has a prolongation 
of the handle, being a bone spatula, like 
the end of a paper cutter. This attach- 
ment is of service in lifting the bark with- 
out lacerating it after the incision has 
been made. The whetstone, used with 
either oil or water, should be fine, and 
small enough to carry in the pocket. For 
putting the linishing edge on the knife use 
a razor-strop or a strop improvised from 
a piece of leather fastened to a stick and 
oiled. The i>runing shears or pocket- 
knife should be employed in the heavy 
work, such as cutting branches for buds, 
pruning, etc. The budding knife is then 
used only for cutting out the buds and in- 
cising the tree, and its keenness is not un- 
«]nly impaired. Tt is best to bud the trees 



close to the ground, for the reason that; 
the point of juncture of bud and stock be- 
comes less prominent and unsightly, and, 
in transplanting, may be coyered up en- 
tirely. Any sort of brush that is con- 
venient will serve for dusting off the 
body of the tree, so that the knife shall 
not come in contact with grit. 

The buds should be inserted with a view 
to a voidmg accidents in irrigating and cul- 
tivating. If the rows run north and south 
insert the bud on the south side of the 
stock, so that it shall not grow out into 
the open space and thus be subject to ac- 
cident. The prevaling winds should also, 
be considered. As the tendency of the 
sprout is to grow out from the stock, if the 
winds can be brought into service to force 
it back upon the stock and mto an upright 
position, so much the better. 

Twine. — A .soft, loosely-twisted twine,, 
from ten to fourteen ply, and known as 

budding twine," is in universal use 
among budders. The size is varied, ac- 
cording to the size of stocks. A conven- 
ient way of preparing the twine for use is 
to reel it upon a board the required length 
for the pieces, and then cut it at both ends, 
of the board. Count the pieces, and when* 
done with them you ^ill know how many 
buds you have inserted. Sling the strings, 
in a loop of twine to your person, and you 
have them ready to draw upon ?8 required.. 

Choosing Buds.— The best buds to in- 
sert are those which appear large and. 
plump, as though just ready to start.. 
They are found ui^on the latest new 
growth that has rounded and hardened.. 
The light green, new growth, known as 
" three cornered," should be avoided, the 
buds being immature and lackingin vital- 
ity. Likewise buds on old limbs (?'. e., ot 
a former year's growth,) are not desirable, 
as they are slow to start. Buds cut from 
very old and hard w ood have been known 
to lie dormant four years before starting 
to grow. Upon the section of limb which 
you select all of the buds may not be de- 
sirable, and you should use only the best, 
rejecting the others. If thorny varieties 
are used discard those with the largest 
thorns. 

PREPARiNa THE BuDS.— Having select- 
ed the limbs from which you wish to take 
your buds, cut them into lengths of .six or 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



37 



'tjight inches, convenient for liandling. At 
the same time cut otf the leaves, severmg 
the stem close to the buds. If the leaves 
-are allowed to remain they draw the sap 
'from the stock, weakening the buds. The 
points of thorns may be clipped to avoid 
:annoyance in handling. If the buds are 
to be kept any time or shipped, the twigs 
should be packed in some damp material. 
The green moss which forms on the sur- 
face of ponds or reservoirs exposed to the 
sun furnishes an excellent wrapping wlien 
•dried. This should be dampened only 
•enough to keep the stems from drying 
out, and they maybe thus kept a fortnight 
-or more without damage. While budding- 
keep the principal part of your stock cov- 
ered with a damp cloth, having only a 
stick or two in hand at a time. 




Cutting the Buds.— Hold the stick in 
(the left hand, top toward your body ; fore- 
finger sustaining the stick below the bud, 
and thumb far enough above the bud to 
be out of danger from the knife. Com- 
^mencing about a half inch below the bud, 
I make a slanting cut into the twig, raising 
'the bark and a thin shaving of wood be- 
aieath it. Draw the knife forward with a 
straight cut underneath the bud, and when 
this has been severed, with the bark and 
wood adhering, bring the edge to the sur- 
face with a rounding motion. 

The slip thus taken is about an inch 
ilong: the part below the bud a half inch, 
the bud and leaf stem a quarter, and the 
part above the bud a quarter. It is neces- 
sary to take only a very little wood from 
the twig in serving the bud. I have 
known pains-taking nurserymen, when 
-operating on young stock, to hollow out 
the under side of the bud longitudinally, 
■so as to make it conform more closely to 
ithe body of the tree to which it was ap- 
plied. The knife used for taking off buds 
should have a keen edge. 

Cutting the Stocks and Inserting 
THE Buds.— At a point not more than six 
inches from the ground select a smooth 



place on the stock and make a short per- 
pendicular incision. This is called the 
longitudinal cut. The knife simply pene- 
trates the bark. The cut should not be 
longer than the bud (one inch), and if the 
bark is free it may be somewhat less, as 
the lower end of the bud-base can pass 
under the bark when shoved down, mak- 
ing it more secure and requiring less ty- 
ing. At the top end of the longitudinal 
cut make a transverse cut long enough to 
admit the bud. In maicing the transverse 
cut incline the edge of the knife down- 
ward, and then, as the bark is penetrated, 
spread the gash by twisting the knife up- 
ward and carrying the knife outward from 
the tree. In so doing be careful not to 
tear the bark. This completes the incis- 
ion. Next pass the lower prong of the 
bud-base in at the place where the two 
cuts cross, and, with the thumb of the 
right hand, press the bud down gently 
into the opening. Instead of using the 
thumb, which might in some instances 
bruise the bud, some budders insert the 
point of the budding knife in the bud- 
base, just above the bud, and press down 
with that. While the bud is being shoved 
into position the thumb and fore-finger of 
the left hand should be pressed against 
the bark on each side of the longitudinal 
cut to assist in guiding the bud and to 
prevent a rupture of the bark. When the 
top of the bud -base is even with the trans- 
verse cut it is in proper position. The 
base is then nearly or quite inclosed in 
the bark, and the bud with its leaf-stem 
and thorn (if it have a thorn) protrudes 
just below the point where the cuts cross. 

Tying. — One of the pieces of twine al- 
ready prepared is then passed about the 
tree, making usually three wraps above 
the bud and two below, the tying being 
done so that there is one wrap less on the 
side opposite the bud. The twine should 
be drawn so tight that it can not be easily 
slipped, and should pass close to the eye 
of the bud above and below. The bud 
first adheres at the upper extremity, and 
especial care should be taken to have it 
well wrapped there. 

Indications. — In between two and six 
weeks after the insertion of the buds, if 
they adhere to the stock, the leaf stem, 
next the bud will begin to loosen and 



V 



38 



THE OKANGE; 



drop oft'. On the contrary, if it shrivels 
and clings to the bud, the indication is 
that the bud is dead. 

Cutting the Stocks. — As soon as one 
is satisfied that the buds have adhered he 
should cut oft' the stocks from four to eight 
inches above the bud, the larger the tree 
the higher up. An irrigation and cultiva- 
tion immediately after this will have a 
good eftect in starting the bud. Within a 
month after cutting away the stocks, the 
strings should also be cut and remoyed, 
especially tlie wraps above the bud. 

Rebudding.— Trees that fail to start the 
bud should be rebudded as. soon as possi- 
ble. If the first work has been done early, 
there will be time to rebud the skips the 
same season. 

Sprouts. — The common practice is to 
remove all sprouts that put out from the 
stock in order that its whole vitality may 
be thrown into the bud. Some think the 
smgle growth of the bud is insuflicient to 
keep the stock in a healthy condition, and 
for the first few months leave several 
sprouts, keeping them subordinate to the 
bud. If any sprouts be left they should 
be on the opposite side to the bud in order 
that they may not interfere with its up- 
ward growth. They should be occasion- 
ally nipped oft"; and, finally, when the 
main shoot gets fair proportions, the in- 
terlopers may be dispensed with alto- 
gether. 

Pruning.— If the growing bud-sprout 
shows too great a tendency to branch, it 
is advisable to thumb-prune it somewhat 
or to shorten in the lower branches. The 
new growth should be trained to sturdy 
proportions and an upright growth. If 
staking be necessarj^, stake it, but make 
it grow upright without this if possible. 

Cutting aavay the Stubs.— When the 
wood of the budded growth shall have 
hardened up somewhat, cut away the 
stub of the stock close to the point of 
Juncture. Pare the stock smooth, and 
cover with paint, shellac, or wax, to pre- 
vent the wood from dryitig out and 
cracking. 

Influence oe Stock on Bud.— While, 
in theory, the Imdding of a tree amounts 
to an absolute change in the fruit, substi- 
tuting the variety budded for that of the 
native stock, practice demonstrates that 



the stock still exercises an inflXience- 
through the budded growth. This influ- 
ence varies with different fruits, in some 
being quite imperceptible, in others so 
pronounced as to render budding nuga- 
tory. For example, the lemon may be- 
budded upon orange stock with the best- 
results ; and, in fact, it has come to be a 
universal custom to choose orange stock 
for this purpose by reason of its greater 
hardiness. But with the orange budded 
upon lemon stock the case is different : 
deterioration of fruit is sure to follow. At 
one time there was quite a furor for bud- 
ding choice yarieties of orange upon the 
stock of Chinese lemon. The vigor of the 
stock caused a marvelous growth in the 
orange buds, and the experimenters were 
in high feather until their trees came into 
bearing. Then it was found that the fruit 
was large, coarse, pulpy and insipid, be- 
ing neither) orange, lemon, nor a. palatable 
hybrid. 

Standard Lowered by Repeated 
Budding. — It is safe to assume, then, that 
all stocks exercise soine influence on their 
budded fruit, and though in a single in- 
stance we might be unable to perceive it,, 
the probability is that several generations 
of buds, each taken from the last preced>- 
ing and each inserted in the same stock, 
would finally bring a fruit much modified 
and approaching in character that of the 
seedling operated upon. Thus it is thai 
the standard of certain varieties has been 
lowered by successive buddings. A, im- 
pressed by the excellence of the Mediter- 
ranean Sweet, obtained buds from the 
stock first introduced and inserted them 
in some of his poorest trees. B obtained 
buds from A, and inserted them in lemon 
stock. Then C got them from B and 
from C, and so the retrograde movement 
continued until the product of the last 
Mediterranean Sweet buds was found to 
be very inferior. Other varieties beside- 
the Mediterranean Sweet have suffered in 
this way. The Australian Navelt, which 
falls short of its twin sister, the Riverside 
Navel, is one of the victims. 

Original Buds. — It is advisable then, 
in budding to a choice variety, to go back 
to the original stock if possible ; otherwise 
to get buds only one degree removed 
from the original, and those grown on. 



ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



39 



non-deteriorating trees. Too much care 
cannot be exercised in this matter if our 
standards are to be maintained. 

Grafting. — The cheapness and greater 
convenience of budding the orange has 
rendered grafting obselete. A nursery- 
man of my acquaintance claims that he 
can bring the orange to fruit much earlier 
by grafting than by budding, and has ex- 
periments under way to proye his asser- 
tion. It is possible that the next step in 
scientific culture may be in this direction, 
but I deem it hardly probably. In Flor- 
ida grafting is a popular method of con- 
yerting the wild (Bigarade) orange to the 
commercial fruit. Grafting would be of 



equal advantage with us in treating old 
trees, in which it is difficult to make buds 
liv^e. 

Care of the Budded Stock. — The care 
of budded niTrsery stook, as regards culti- 
vation, irrigation, staking up, pruning 
and keeping free from insects, should be 
as painstaking as that enjoined for j^oung 
seedlings. When the buds are one year 
old and the stocks two or three (according 
to the age at budding), the trees are suffi- 
ciently advanced to betaken up and trans- 
ferred to the orchard. Of this transf»lant- 
ing I shall say something in a subsequent 
chapter. 



CHAPTER IV, 

A WORD TO THE WISE. 



The man who contemplates planting an 
orange orchard — especially the man of 
limited means— ought to stop and think 
twice. He should consider that it is a 
great undertaking to raise orange trees; 
and he should also bear in mind that, 
during the long period in which they are 
attaining maturity, his family and him- 
self must have a living. If, after weigh- 
ing the matter carefully, he comes to the 
conclusion that he is possessed of the req- 
uisite courage, perseverence, energy and 
thrift for the undertaking, with a natural 
taste for it which will make his labors and 
trials endurable; and if he thinks he can 
see his way clear to keep the pot boiling- 
through several non- producing j^ears, 
why, let him go ahead, and God speed 
him! He is embarking in a good enter- 
prise, and one that will surely bring its 
reward if intelligently carried through. 

Too many men undertake the growing 
of an orange grove without fully compre- 
hending the magnitude of the task. When 
it is past the time for them to retire with- 
out sacrifice, they find out that it was a 
fancy, not a well -settled purpose, that 
first possessed them, and the labors in- 



volved are too onerous to be borne; or, 
their means having rtm out, they get into 
debt, mortgage the farm, and then, per- 
haps, as the trees are just about to bear, 
the result of all their labors and sacrifices 
is swept away! I do not propose to read 
anybody a lecture. Neither do I wish to 
discourage any who have reasonable 
chances of success from entering the field 
of orange growing; but, if a candid word 
of mine may set some over-sanguine man 
to thinking, and avert from him the heart- 
burnings incident to the course above out- 
lined, that word shall not pass unspoken. 

If, my reader, you have thoughts of 
growing an orange orchard, and after 
looking the clifficulties squarely in the 
face, 3^ou conclude that you can overcome 
them; and if you would, to that end, be 
advised concerning approved theories and 
established methods, follow me through 
the succeeding chapters and T will lay 
them before you. Remember that in our 
age no man can afford to ignore the ex- 
perience of others; and he who informs 
himself most thoroughly is the one who 
encounters least mishaps and firally com- 
mands success^ 



40 



THE ORANGE; 



CHAPTER V. 



T.OCATING AX OKANGE ORCHARD. 



Haviug determined to grow oranges, 
one should address himself to the task of 
obtaining the best of everything re- 
quired;— the best location and soil; the 
best water right; the best trees of the best 
varieties; and then he should plant them 
and (Mire for them in tlie best manner, and 
he may count with certainty on the best 
results. If he is to go through the labor 
. and trials of growing an orchard, he may 
as well raise line fruit as poor; it is not a 
whit harder. And besides, when it comes 
to returns there may be all the difference 
-between the two that there is between 
profit and loss. ^ 

Best Ix)catiox.— In Parti of this work, 
under the heading "A Glance at Our Or- 
ange Growing Country" and subsequent 
chapters, I have discussed the question of 
.localities suited to citrus culture quite 
-fully, with reference especially to this 
connection. It is sufiicient to reiterate 
^here that all authorities agree in recom- 
mending the high mesa lands and the in- 
terior valleys, where conditions of soil, 
climate and water supply are suitable. 

Soil. — The soil should be loose, well 
drained and warm; — no standing water 
within twenty feet of the surface— and if 
there be a hard-pan at all, it should be 
deep. The orange flourishes best in a 
sandy or gravelly loam. Quite a variety 
•of soils exists, all of which seem to fill 
the requirements of the orange in nearly 
■equal degree. I note the following: 

Disintegrated granite with vegetable de- 
posit. 

Gravely alluvium. 

Sandy clay (chocolate colored). 

Clayish sand (brown). 

Sandy clay (reddish brown; colored by 
'ferric acid, and known as '*red land"). 

The best results cannot be accomplished 
in ground that bakes and packs hard un- 
der the action of water and sun, even 
though such ground be rich in all the 
chemical elements required in tree growth. 
Hence, adobe and still clay soils are to be 
avoided. Standing water near the surface 
is detrimental because it keeps the ground 
cold, A shallow hard-pan is a disadvan- 



tage because It arrests the growth of the 
tap root and stunts the tree. 

Exposure.— On rolling or elevated lands 
a southern, southeastern or southwestern 
exposure is desirable. The orange luxu- 
riates in warmth, and the more the tree 
and the ground in which it stands are ex- 
posed to the direct rays of the sun the 
better. 

Water.— Be sure to get a good water 
supply and have it convenient for appli- 
cation. But, withal, use it sparingly at 
first. Your supply will stand you in 
good stead in a dry season and after your 
trees come into bearing, when they must 
have irrigation to yield paying crops. 
This subject will be more fully discussed 
in the chapter on Irrigation to follow. 

Winds. — Do not locate where your or- 
chard will be exposed to severe winds. 
Quite a large proportion of fruit is lost 
every year by being whipped against 
thorns and branches, and the trees them- 
selves are sometimes half stripped of 
leaves. If you have reason to apprehend 
an occasional wind storm, plant a double 
row of eucalyptus, pepper or cypress trees 
about the orchard for a wind-break. Cy- 
press or pepper are preferable, because 
they do not exhaust the soil to such a dis- 
tance as the eucalyptus. Some foothill 
localities excellenth' suited for orange 
growing in every other respect, are un- 
available because they chance to align 
some mountain gorge and are swept by the 
daily currents of air from inland to ocean, 
and vice verm. Beware of such places. 

Avoiding Fkosts. — If you follow the 
advice given in these articles and locate 
your orchard on the foothills or in the 
high interior valleys, you will be in little 
danger from frost. Inasmuch as cold air 
is denser and heavier than warm, the cold 
weather most prevails in low places. It is 
the good fortune of our country to have 
its cold spells of short duration, and con- 
sequentlj' the natural basins are never 
quite filled up, and the isothermal line of 
damaging frosts does not rise over the 
higher altitudes. 

Look out for Rocks. — If you select 
land on the mesas, especialh' in granite 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA. 



41 



foriiiatiou, beware of rocks. These mesas 
arc built up by the wash from the mount- 
ains, and many places that look compara- 
tively smooth are only filled-up beds of 
former ravines; just below the surface 
they are chock full of bowlders. If you 
see only a few of these fellows cropping 
out here and there, regard them as a just 
''•auise of suspicion and make a thorough 



investigation. As the surface is usually 
covered with a thick growth of chapparai 
you may not see half the rocks that are 
really above ground. A little neglect in 
this important part of the investigation 
may cost you several hundreds of dollars 
and many a weary day's labor. Take 
warning from a man who has been through 
the mill. 



CHAPTER VI. 



CLEARING AND PREPARING LAND. 



Clearing.— Mesa lands, by reason of 
their usually thick growth of chapparai 
and occasional timber, are more difficult 
to clear than lands in the valley. The 
usual method is to grub out by the root 
everything in the form of tree or shrub. 
In the case of heavy oak and sycamore 
timber a considerable excavation is made, 
'Uncovering the hole and reaching the 
anain tap root of the tree. This root is cut 
<^t the depth of two to four feet from the 
surface of the ground, and when the main 
laterals are also severed the tree topples 
•over. Thus the stump is wrenched from 
the earth, and disposed of much more 
readily and cheaply than by any of the 
old methods of burning, blowing up or 
twisting out with horse-power. 

Implements. — The implements requi- 
site for clearing are the mattock, or grub- 
Jioe, axe, shovel, and crow-bar. When 
timber is to be cut np the cross-cut saw 
■comes into play also. With ordinary 
greasewood and sage roots the mattock is 
sufficient. Sumacs, alders and thorns re- 
quire more digging and chopping. 

The Easiest Method.— It is possible 
sometimes when the chapparai is not very 
lieayy and that all sage, or sage with a 
sprinkling of greasew^ood, to substitute 
horse-power for manual labor, with a 
great saving in time and expense. In 
such cases a heavy timber or a railroad 
rail is dragged broadside over the ground, 
ii horse being hitched at each end. This 
operation may be repeated in an opposite 
direction, and the result is that substan- 



tially all of the brittle stalks are broken 
off close to the ground. A horse-rake is 
of service in raking the brush into wind- 
rows, after which it is stacked and burned. 
The roots, which still remain in the 
ground, are thrown out by a heavy 
breaking-up plow, drawn by four horses, 
and it is necessary to send men over the 
ground to collect them into heaps for 
burning or hauling off. This wholesale 
method of clearing chapparai land is 
rarely feasible. 

The Slow and Sure Way.— The ma- 
jority of men who open up small foothills 
farms find there is nothing for it but to 
grub out the brush *'by main force and 
awkwardness." 

FuEE. — Although the clearing involves 
a deal of labor, and that of the hardest 
kind, there is a compensation in the fire- 
wood secured. All of the roots named, 
with the single exception of the sage, are 
serviceable for fuel. From thirty acres of 
chapparai which I cleared in opening up 
my place I obtained wood enough to last 
my family four years, and sold upwards 
of a hundred dollars' worth besides. The 
idea of digging firewood out of the ground 
is novel to most people, but when fuel is 
as scarce and dear as in California, it will 
not do to despise the lowly origin and un- 
comely appearance of our greasewood 
and sumac roots. When dry, they make 
a quick, hot fire, and are especially de- 
sirable for cooking purposes. Oak timber 
should be worked into stovewood when 
green (the only time, in fact, that it can be 



42 



THE OEANGE; 



split,) and if marketed the returns are 
sullicient to pay quite handsomely above 
the cost of clearing. 

Cactus Land.— I have said that the 
mesas are more diflicult to clear than the 
vallej's; but I should except those low- 
land localities which are covered with 
cactus. This pestiferous growth, known 
by the Mexican name ''Tune, is a succes- 
sion of green, pulpy leaves, one growing 
atop of the other, and all covered with 
little bunches of thorns like cambric 
needles. The best way to get them ofFtlie 
ground is to tie a long- rope around a 
clump and drag it away with horses. 
Taken in detail, it is chopped in pieces 
with an axe and handled with a pitchfork. 
The ^ tunes are too green to burn, and must 
be hauled to some out-of-the-way place. 
In time a part will dry up or decay, and a 
part will take root and grow again if not 
chopped up a second time. Cactus land 
has the reputation of being strong, and it 
is generally mellow and well suited to 
trees and vines. 

Time to Begix Clearixg.— Some val- 
ley land requires no clearing whatever, 
but is ready for the breaking plow at any 
time when sufficiently moist. It is a good 
plan to begin clearing land in the latter 
part of summer or early fall, so that it 
may be ready for the plow as soon as the 
first winter rains soften the ground. The 



time allowed for clearing inaj^ be short 
or long according to the acreage and the 
force employed, but.of one thing you may 
be certain: it is likely to prove a harder 
and longer job than you calculate. There- 
fore, begin early, and allow ample lee-way 
in your plans. 

Clearing away Rocks. — If yon have 
been so unfortunate as to select a rocky 
piece, of ground, there is nothing for it but 
to dig the rocks out and haul them away; 
then plow and dig and haul again, and in 
the course of a year or two, with semi-an- 
nual gatherings, your place may be rea- 
sonably clear. With rock^^ land, allow 
twice or thrice the time required for clear- 
ing chapparal. 

Plowing.— As soon as possible after the 
first penetrating rains have fallen, start 
the plow, and give your land a thorough 
breaking up. The plow should penetrate 
at least twelve inches. Then, if circum- 
stances allow, let the piece remain a 
month or more to air-slack and pulverize, 
after which, cross-plow and harrow thor- 
oughly. It is imi^ortant that the first 
plowing be done early, so that the land 
may be in condition to absorb the winter 
rains. The closer the last plowing ap- 
proximates the planting, the better, as the 
soil is thus lefc in a mellow condition to 
receive the trees. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SELECTING TREES. 



Commence Early.— The clearing and 
breaking disposed of, you will begin to 
breathe more freely, and it is then a good 
time to think about trees. The sooner 
you are in the market the better selection 
you will make. No harm is done by 
looking over the nurseries thoroughly 
before coming to a conclusion. 

Get tup: Best.— I would remind you 
of the advice given in a former chapter, 
to procure only the best trees of the best 
varieties. By this I do not mean always 
the most expensive trees. A nurseryman 
may have six or seven year old slock, 



which he recommends highlj^ and with 
apparent reason ; and yet it might be a 
doubtful speculation for you to pay the 
fancy i^rice he demands. Better buy 
younger trees of equal thrift and earn the 
extra dollar or two per tree by growing 
them yourself. 

The Kind to Select.— A tree which 
is two years old in its budded growth, and 
four years old in its stO(;k, and which is 
healthy and vigorous, standing from five 
to seven feet high, may be accounted first 
class. If you can obtain such, take no 
others. The health of a tree is best in- 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



43 



dicated by the dark green of the matured 
foliage. If it have a yellowish cast, be- 
ware of the tree. But do not confound 
ihe sickly hue of the older leaves with the 
yellowish green of the new growth. The 
two are readily distinguishable. 

A False Economy. — Do not let meas- 
ures of economy induce you to buy at 
half the price trees that are undersized or 
stunted, or diseased or infested. A young 
orange tree which, from any cause, has 
been checked in its growth, is more than 
half ruined, and should not be subjected 
to the additional shock of removal. 
Though oared for in the best manner, it is 
likely to prove a losing investment. You 
should consider that the first cost of trees 
is a mere bagatelle compared with the 
items of land, time, and labor devoted, to 
them to bring them to the fruiting age, 
and that this greater expense must be in- 
curred for poor trees as well as for good; 
nay, more, the cost of raising may be 
greater for the poor, and you get only 
scrubs at last. 

The Way to Economize. — If you de- 
sire to economize in your purchases, do so 
by selecting younger trees, but never by 
dispensing with thrift. Let the tree be as 
healthy and sturdy and large as it ought 
in reason to be at the age you buy it. 
Yearling buds on three-year-old stocks 
are often set. Some prefer them to the 
older growth. 

A Good Way to Judge.— As good an 



index as one can have in judging of nur- 
sery stock is to note the general character 
of the nurseryman's place. If it have 
neat, well-kept and thrifty appearance, 
you may almost jump at the conclusion 
that his young trees are in the same favor- 
able condition. If, on the contrary, the 
place is out at the elbows, the chances are 
against the trees. Be on the lookout for 
stunted or diseased or scaly stocks, or any 
of the other ills that come from neglect. 
In cases where the cultivation of a nur- 
sery has been slighted, though the trees 
may not show it except in their lack of 
vigor, they are apt to die after transplant- 
ing. 

Varieties. — Concerning the best varie- 
ties of budded trees, the reader is referred 
to the chapter on that subject. I would 
advise the selection of one or two varieties 
and the planting of these almost wholly. 
Uniformity of fruit is a desideratum when 
it comes to marketing. If you wish many 
varieties, plant only one or two trees of 
each, and leave the main body of the 
orchard in one kind. 

Mark the Trees.— Having found the 
trees you want, mark them with tags or 
strings of some peculiar kind that the 
nurseryman will recognize as yours. 
Then make a small payment to secure 
them beyond a peradventure, and with 
the receipt in your pocket go home satis- 
fied, that yoii have done a good day's - 
work. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LAYI^^G OFF THE ORCHARD. 



Importaxce of the Work.- The oper- 
ation preliminary to planting is laying ofi:' 
and staking the ground. Upon the ac- 
curacy with which this is done depends 
the symmetry of your orchard as long as 
it exists. The neglect or carelessness of a 
few hours at this juncture may result in 
an "eye-sore" for half a lifetime. There- 
fore, one can hardly be too painstaking. 

Established Methods. — Every man of 
common sense knows, or thinks he knows, 
how to measure oft^ and mark a piece of 



ground so that his trees will come in reg- 
ular rows and the rows regularly dis- 
posed. If he goes at it by "the rule of 
thumb," he may or may not uccomplish 
his purpose, but, in either event, he is 
likely to incur needless work and bother. 
It is better for him to inform hmaself in 
advance of the various labor-saving de- 
vices which have resulted from the ex- 
perience of others; then adopt some- 
method which seems to him most feasible., 
and consistently pursue it.. 



THE ORANGE; 



Implemkm's Required.— The outfit for 
laying off and staking land consists of a 
chain, an axe, four or five Hags (poles witli 
bits of cloth fastened at the top) and a 
plentiful supply of stakes. Stakes a foot 
in length Avill do, but the work is nicer 
with laths three or four feet long, since 
one can sight along a row of them without 
getting down upon the ground too close 
for comfort. The flags are serviceable for 
designating corners and points to be seen 
from a long distance. 

The Planting Chaix.— The best and 
cheapest chain that I have found is one 
made of annealed wires twisted about a 
cord and in common use as "clothes line 
wire.'' To make it serviceable for plant- 
ing, fasten some large iron rings at the 
ends for hand-holds and space the wire oft' 
in the length decided upon for distances 
between trees by running a fine wire be- 
tween the strands and fastening a piece of 
cloth or a tag thereto. The length of the 
chain may depend somewhat upon the 
length of the rows to be planted, though 
two hundred feet is about a maximum 
limit for convenient handling. In spacing 
the wire off, it is a good plan to make the 
end spaces conform to the distance adopted 
for the margin of the orchard, then all in- 
termediate spaces represent distances be- 
tween trees. Thus, if the margin be 
twelve feet and the distances between 
trees twenty, the chain will be thus 
marked: 

^ B C D E 

o o o o ~ 



o o o o ^ 

FIG. 1— PLAXTINO CHAIN. 

V to B, 12 feet. 
H to (\ 20 feet. 
(J to I), 20 feet. 
D to E, 20 feet. 
X to Y, 12 feet. 

A cham of heavier wii'e than that I have 
ilescribed is sometimes made in links 
Joined with small rings, but this is ob- 
jectionable on account of kinking. Rope 
should never be employed, as the shrink- 
ing and stretching while in use preclude 
anything like accuracy. 

A llELPpfR. — The work of measuring 
and staking requires two people; a smart 
boy will do for a helper. 



Boundary Lines. — The first task to 
which one addresses himself is establish- 
ing the boundary lines of the orchard. If 
the land has been regularly surveyed and 
staked and the orchard is located in one 
corner or along one side of the lot, the 
measuring of the required distances each 
way to fix the orchard lines is an easy 
matter. But if the orchard happens to be 
in the middle of the farm, and there are 
no riglit anglee already designated, the 
planter must first apply himself to 

Establishing a Rectangle — which 
may be done as follows: Fix upon some 
line that runs parallel to the north-and- 
south or the east-and-west line of your 
place, or whatever road, field, fence, 
building or other object it is desired to 
have the orchard align. This we will call 
the base line. 

G F 




A E B C 

I MG. 2~ESTABLISHING A RECTANGLE. 

Extend the base line A B any distance, 
say one hundred feet, to C. Mark the 
points E and equal distances from B, 
saj^ one hundred feet each. Then take a 
rope or chain longer than E B C (in this 
case three hundred feet) with a knot or 
tag exactly in the middle. Fasten one 
end of the rope at E and the other end at 
0; draw the rope out as shown in E D C. 
The knot or loop being in the middle will 
fall at D, giving a perpendicular to the 
base line A E B C. By standing at B and 
sighting across B D, the point F may be 
established at any required distance, giv- 
ing a corner of the orchard ground, and 
then, by measurement, the point G may 



ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



45, 



also be lixed. You then have the bound- 
ary of the orchard in the form of the rect- 
angle A B F G. 

Distances Apart.— Orange trees are 
planted from ten to thirty feet apart ac- 
cording to their habits of growth. Dwarfs 
like the Mandarin may be advantageously 
placed ten feet apart; semi-dwarfs, such 



as the Washington Navei, Mediterranean 
Sweet, Maltese Blood and St. Michael, 
fifteen to twenty feet; standard trees — 
seedlings and native buds — twenty to thir- 
ty feet. The distances most in vogue are 

Dwarfs— ten feet, 

Semi-dwarfs— eighteen feet, 

Standards — twenty-four feet. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ARRANGING AN ORCHARD— THE SQUARE SYSTEM. 



Three Systems. — There are three pop- 
ular systems for the arrangement of trees 
in an orchard: 

Ist: The square system. 

2d: The quincunx system. 

3d: The septuple system. 

it is with the first named that this chap- 
ter deals. 

The Square System.— This is the ar- 
rangement of trees in a quadrangular 
form; i. e., so that four trees in two prox- 
imate rows form a figure of a quadrangle, 
thus: 



FIG. 3. 

The general online of the orchard also 
becomes a quadrangle if the rows are of 
equal length and number throughout. 
The system thus carried out is illustrated 
in Fig 4. 



» * 



How to Stake by this System. — The 
boundary lines of the orchard ground be*, 
ing already established, determine how 
much margin you will leave between the 
outside rows of trees and the boundary 
lines. It is generally inexpedient to plant 
trees directly upon the outer lines, as that 
would bring the orchard flush with a road 
or fence or hedge, or with some neigh- 
bor's property. The margin usually al- 
lowed is from ien to twenty feet, accord- 
ing to the character of the trees and the 
confidence one has in the public. 









* 




* 


» 


* 




* 


■"v 


* 
*- 







* iif « * iit 

% -* a X- » * 
FIG. 4— THE SQUAR.E SYSTEM. 



PIO. i>— CHECK-ROWS. 

A B D C, boundary lines, 
a 6, cd, check-rows. 

Let us take, for illustration, a margin of 
twelve feet. Slake the points a, fe, c and d. 
at the corners twelve feet inside the bound- 
ary lines. Place two lines of stakes, a 
c d. along opposite sides, the distance be-- 



46 



THE OKANGE; 



tweeu stakes being that determined upon 
for the distance between rows. These 
lines, ab, cd, are known as check-rows. 
Stretch the chain across the ground from 
■ ato d and stake the first row. 



FIG. 6 — THE FIRST ROW OF TREES. 

This work of staking is most expedi- 
tiously done by drawing the chain tense 
and fastening it to the ground with an 
iron pin at each end. Then yourself and 
assistant, each with an armful of stakes, 
advance from your opposite, stations, plac- 
ing a stake at each tag until you meet in 
the middle of the ground. Then retrace 
your steps, stretch the chain for the next 
row and repeat the operation. It is best 
to make the end tag of the chain tally with 
the pins in one check -row all the way 
through. For example, if you adopt a b, 
Fig. 5, as the tally-row, do not be con- 
cerned if the last tag at the other end of 
the chain does not always touch the pin 
in the row c d. Make your orchard 
straight on one side, and let the other side 
take care of itself. Should the tag and 
pin on the off side fail to agree exactly, 
pull out the pin and make it conform to 
the tag. 

Reviewing the Work. — After the 
staking is completed it is a good plan to 
review the work by sighting along each 
row, both up and down and across the 
orchard. Any inaccuracies may thus be 
detected in time for correction. When it 
comes to this operation of sighting, you 
will find it an advantage if the stakes 
have been set in the ground at a perpen- 
dicular. Don't question this statement 
until you cast your eye along a line of 



irregularly leaning stakes and see how 
confusing it is. 

Number of Trees to the Acre.— To 
compute the number of trees that can be 
planted on an acre by the square system: 

KuLE. — 1st, Multiply the distance apart 
in the row by the distance between rows. 
This will give the number of square feet 
occupied by each tree. 

2d, Divide 43,560, the number of square 
feet in an acre, by the number of square 
feet occupied by each tree, and the quotient 
will be the number of trees to the acre. 

Example. — How many trees on an acre 
if planted 22 by 24 feet apart? 

22 X 24 528. 

43,560 528 = 82.5. Ans., say 82 trees 
to the acre. 

For convenience of reference the fol- 
lowing table IS given: 

NUMBER OF TREES TO THE ACRE. 

Distance apart. Number. 

10 X 10 436 

10 X 12 363 

10 X 14 311 

10 X 16 272 

12 X 12 302 

12 X 14 259 

12 X 16 227 

12 X 18 202 

14 X 14 222 

14 X 16 199 

14 X 18 173 

14 X 20 156 

16 X 16 170 

16 X 18 151 

16 X 20 136 

16 X 22 124 

18 X 18 134 

18 X 20 121 

18 X 22 110 

18 X 24 101 

20 X 20 109 

20 X 22 99 

20 X 24 91 

21 X 21 99 

22 X 22 90 

22 X 24 82 

24 X 24 76 

25 X 25 70 

26 X 26 :. 64 

28 X 28 56 

30 X 30 48 

Note.— In these computations the frac- 
tion is dropped when amounting to one- 
half or less; when exceeding one-half 
one is taken. 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFORNIA. 



47 



Quincunx Defined. — Webster defines 
the word quincunx as follows : "An ar- 
rangement or disposition of things by 
rives in a square, one being placed in the 
middle of the square ; especially an ar- 
rangement as of trees, in squares, consist- 
ing of five trees, one at each corner, and a 
fifth in the middle, this order being re- 
peated indefinitely so as to form a regular 
group, with rows, or ranks, running in 
various directions." 

Illustration. — The quincunx figure is 
thus illustrated ; 



FIG. 7 — QUINCUNX. 

Extended in a regular group it becomes 
the following: 



CHAPTER X. 

THE QUINCUNX SYSTEM. 

3d. Quincunx is also employed in the 



FIG. 8— QUINCUNX GROUP. 

How Quincunx Planting is Avail- 
able.— This system of planting is resort- 
ed to mainly under the following condi- 
tions: 

1st. By those M^ho have orchards al- 
ready planted on the square system, and 
who wish to increase the number of trees 
without enlarging the area. 

2d. By those who wish to plant both 
citrus and deciduous trees in the same 
orchard with a view, generally, of cutting 
away the deciduous trees when the citrus 
come into bearing. With Quincunx plant- 
ing they can at pleasure dispense with 
the middle tree in each group of five, and 

leave the remaining orchard in regular 
rows. 



planting of seedling and budded orange 
trees in the same orchard, the four corners 
of the square being occupied by standard 
trees and the middle points by budded 
varieties, which make a lesser growth. 

How TO Stake on the Quincunx Sys- 
tem. — Stake the two check rows the same 
as for square planting except that you 
double the number of stakes. For ex- 
ample, if the trees in the square are to be 
twenty-four feet apart, with an extra quin- 
cunx tree in the rhiddle, place the stakes 
in the check rows twelve feet apart. 

Arranging the Planting Chain.— 
To the planting chain attach an extra tag, 
as X, Fig. 9, one-half the established dis- 
tance from the tag A. 

X A B c D 

^ o o o o o 

FIG. 9 — THE planting CHAIN ARRANGED. 

Explanation.— Assuming that the es- 
tablished distance between trees is twenty- 
four feet, then from X to A is 12 feet ; A 
to B 24 feet, etc. 

The Process of Staking. — Stretch the 
chain for the first row, allowing the tag A 
(Fig. 9) to fall upon the pin a, Fig. 10. 
a b 



FIG, 10 — THE check ROWS — QUINCUNX. 

For the second row, let the tag X fall 
upon the pin n. Proceed with the staking 
as usual, placing a pin at each tag in the 
chain. The result of changing the check 
tags A and X is to bring the trees alternate- 
ly opposite each other, thus : 



FIG, II— ALTERNATELY OPPOSITB. 



48 



THE OEANGE, 



It is necessary to tally with the tag A in 
each odd row, and with the tag X in each 
even row, thus A, X, A, X ; shifting the 
chain back and fortli like a shuttlecock. 
This will bring the orchard in regular 
quincunx order, as shown in Fig. 8. 

Pui^ii UP Unnecessary SxAKEs.—The 
staker should be careful to pull up all the 
intermediate stakes in the check rows, as 
tij o, p, q, r, s, etc., Fig. 10, since they are 
merely check stakes and do not denote 
places for trees like the stakes a, b, c, etc. 
The stakes marked o, Fig. 12, are the ones 
to come out ; their work is done as soon 
as the chain is stretched. 

o * * a ;;r :ii o 

o * * * ^ * 

VIG. 12—0, O, O, O, SHOWING STAKES TO BK 
PULLED. 

Distance Apart. — In planting quin- 
j.'unx, it is advisable to have the trees in 
regular squares not less than twenty-four 
feet apart ; and they may sometimes be 
placed thirty feet apart w ith advantage. 
At twenty-four feet apart the distance 
from the trees on the square to the middle 
tree is about seventeen feet. On a scale of 
thirty feet, this intermediate distance be- 
comes about twenty feet. 



Number of Trres to the Acre.— To 
ascertain the number of trees to the acre 
by the Quincunx system, observe the fol- 
io wing: 

Rule.— 1st. Compute the number of trees 
in the regular squares, asshoivn in Chapter 
X. 

2d. MultipVy this result ity two. 

3d. From the product subtract the num- 
ber of intermediate {Quincunx) trees on tivo 
sides of the orchard, plus 1. 

Example. — How many trees on an acre 
of ground planted Quincunx, the trees on 
regular squares being twenty-four fee* 
apart? 

The table, Chapter X, shows tliat at 
twentj^-four feet apart, Square system, 
there are 76 trees to the acre. 

76 X 2 = 152. 

152 — *( 8 -j- 8 -f 1 ) = 135. Ans. , 135 trees. 

Another Rule. — An approximate rule 
for finding the number of trees to an acre, 
quincunx, is to ascertain the number of" 
trees on the regular squares, and add 78 
per cent, thereto. 

-Note.— It is assumed that the acre of ground 
taken for illustration is in a square form, and that 
there are eight intermediate or Quincunx trees 
along each side. The (8-1-8-j-l) represents the 
inside trees along two sides, plus one. as given in 
the rule. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE SEPTUPLE SYSTEM. 



A Misnomer Corrected. — The system 
of planting which I designate Septuple 
has hitherto been known as Quincunx, 
the term being applied almost indiscrimi- 
nately to this system and the one de- 
scribed in the preceding chapter. Great 
<;onfusion has resulted from this misappli- 
(jation and conflict of terms, some writers 
even going to the length of calling the 
Septuple the true Quincunx," and re- 
pudiating the other, or genuine Quincunx 
system, altogether. This is error carried 
to the point of fanaticism, and offers no 
reasonable way out of the dilemma. 
Clearly there are two distinct systems of 



planting here confounded, and they 
ought to be designated by different names- 
It is manifest by the definition quoted in 
the preceding chapter that there is an old- 
established and well-defined system of 
planting known as Quincunx ; that it is by 
lives— four trees on a square and one in 
the middle— as shown in the illustration. 
To this system, then, the title properly be- 
longs. If some other system is devised 
w hich comprehends the planting of trees 
in an essentially different group — say by 
sevens instead of fives — it is clearly a mis- 
nomer to call that system Quincunx also. 
At the risk, then, of stirring up a hornet's 



ITS CULTUKE IN CALIFOENIA. 



49 



nest among horticultural writers, I ven- 
ture to correct the error that has been 
tolerated so long. 

Why Septuple. — This system I call the 
Septuple because it is made up of regular 
groups of seven. The geometrical figure 
formed by this group is that of a hexagon, 
with a tree at each angle and a tree in the 
middle, thus: 



FIG. 13— THE SEPTUPLE aEOUP. 

Note — It is possible to resolve the trees planted 
by this system into groups of five, but they do not 
form a regular equilateral figure. Thus, in Fig. 
0, It is seen at a glance that the figure formed is 
not a square, hence cannot come within Webster's 
definition of quincunx. 



trees stand at irregular distances apart. 
A B 

e 

C D 

FIG. 15— IRREGULAR DISTANCES APART. 

Thus, the established square distance 
being twenty-four feet, A and B are 
twenty-four feet apart; likewise B and D 
D and C, and C and A. But the distance 
from each one of these trees to e is seven- 
teen feet (approximately). Hence it hap- 
pens that; while the rows up and down 
the orchard and transversely may be too 
open (24 feet), the diagonal rows (from A 
to D and B to C) may be too close (17 feet). 

With the septuple system, this difficulty 
is entirely obviated, as each tree is equi- 
distant from all proximate trees. 

A B 



G 



FIG. — SHOWING MISAPPLICATION OF TEEM QtJINCDNX 

The complete orchard is resolvable into 
a succession of these groups, matched to- 
gether like the blocks in a hexagon quilt. 



FIG. 14 — SEPTUPLE GROUPS. 

No Practical Bearing.— Of course, 
the fact that trees planted on this system, 
or on any other, are resolvable into groups 
cuts no figure in the practical work of 
planting or cultivating the orchard. Nei- 
ther will one readily discover this geo- 
metrical peculiarity on inspecting the 
trees themselves. On the contrary, be- 
tween the Quincunx and Septuple planted 
orchards, scarcely any difference is ob- 
servable on casual inspection. 

The Difference. — But there is a dif- 
ference, and an essential one in the econo- 
my of planting. Taking the figure of the 
uincunx, for example, we see that the 



E D 

FIG. 16— TREES equidistant. 

Thus, from A to B and B to C and tJience 
around the hexagon, the spaces are the 
same, and these spaces also equal the lines 
A G, B G, C G, D G, etc. 

The Advantage. — Herein lies the great 
advantage of Septuple planting, making 
it, in my opinion, the finest system ever 
devised. Upon a given space, allowing 
the same distances between trees, fifteen 
per cent more trees may be planted Septu- 
ple than by the Square system. This seems 
at first glance impossible, but it is never- 
theless a fact. A gain of fifteen per cent 
m the productive capacity of land is not 
to be ignored. Many merchants handle 
goods on a margin of fifteen per cent, and 
many farmers may find that fifteen per 
cent turns the scale in their profit and 
loss account. There are other practical 
advantages in the Septuple system. As the 
trees come in equally spaced rows, in four 
different ways, they may be cultivated 
with advantage in as many directions, 
making each cultivation criss-cross sever- 
al others. In irrigating, water may some- 
times be run down the diagonal rows with 
great advantage. Especially is this true 
where the orchard is located on sloping 
land and the fall is too great to allow the 
running of water down the straight rows. 



50 



THE OEANGE, 



Not Difficult.— The novice should not 
allow himself to be dazed by the multi- 
plicity of geometrical figures which I have 
given in explaining the nomenclature of 
the system. It does not require a surveyor 
to stake off the orchard ground in Septu- 
ple form. On the' contrary, when you 
once grasp the theory you^will find it as 
easy as any other system. 

Septuple Illustrated.— To give an oc- 
cular demonstration of an orchard planted 
by this system, I present a diagram after 
the manner of those in preceding chap- 
ters: 

******* 

* * * * * * 

* * * * * * * 

* * * * * * 
****** * 

* * * * * * 



* * * * * iii * 

Fia. 17 — septuple orchakd illustrated. 

Method of Staking. — The staking is 
done in substantially the same way as de- 
scribed in the Quincunx planting. Run 
two check- rows of stakes along opposite 
sides of the orchard, and, in using the 
chain, alternate the check-tags as previ- 
ously described. By shifting the chain 
back and forth the trees are brought alter- 
nately opposite (Fig. 11). 

Key to the Septuple System.— Ii is 
in setting the stakes in the check-rows that 
the difference between this and all other 
systems occurs. This must be explained 
at length. In Fig. 18 it is plainly observ- 
able that the trees in opposite rows ar- 
range themselves in triangles. 

C * * * 

A B - * 

*Fia. 18— triangular arrangement. 
It has been explained that the trees are 
equal distances apart each way, and hence 
A B C is an equilateral triangle. Now, we 
have the simple geometrical problem: — 



Giyen an equilateral triangle, A B C, to 
find its altitude. 

C 




D 



FIG. 19— AN equilateral TRIANGLE TO 
FIND ITS ALTITUDE. 

Drop a perpendicular from the apex C 
upon the base A B. Then A D C is a 
rightangle triangle. The dimension of 
the side A C is known. The dimension 
of A D is one-half of A B. We wish to 
ascertain the dimension C D. The formu- 
la is: 

(A C2— A D2)=CD 

If the trees are planted twenty feet 
apart, we have the problem in figures 
thus: 

>/ (202 — 102) 

SOLUTION. 

202=400. 
102 = 100. 
400—100 = 300. 

-v/ 300=17^ (nearly), or 17 feet 4 inches. 

Answer. — If A C is twenty feet and A D 
ten feet, then the distance from C to D is 
seventeen feet and four inches. 

The orchard being staked on the Septu- 
ple system, with the trees twenty feet 
apart, the stakes in the check-rows should 
be seventeen feet and four inches apart. 

Having slaked the check-rows the re- 
quired distance, proceed to stretch the 
chain and set the stakes exactly as de- 
scribed in Quincunx planting. Remem- 
ber the injunction there given to pull out 
alternate stakes in the check-rows when 
you are through with them. (See Fig. 12.) 

Distance for Check-Rows. — For con- 
venience of reference, I append a table, 
showing the distances at which the check- 
stakes should be set for various spaces: 

10 feet apart 8 feet 8 inches. 

12 " 10 " 4 2-5*' 

14 " 12 " % " 

16 " 13 " 10^ " 

18 " 15 " 7 

20 " 17 " 4 " 

21 " 18 " 214 " 

22 " 19 % 

24 " 20 " 914 " 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



51 



Number of Trees to the Acre. — To 
ascertain the number of trees to the acre, 
Septuple planting. 

Rule. — Calculate the number set the 
same distance apart on the Square system, 
and add fifteen per cent. 

NUMBER OF TREES TO THE ACRE. 

Square. Septuple. 

10 feet apart 435 500 

12 " 302 347 

14 " 222 255 



16 feet apart 170 195 

18 " 134.. 154 

20 " 109 125 

21 " 99 114 

22 " 90 103 

24 " 75.... 86 

*N0TE— This system, with equal propriety, might 
be termed the Triangular system. I have preferred, 
however, to denominate it the Septuple, following 
the analogy of the Quincunx— a group about a cen- 
tral tree. 



CHAPTER XII, 



TAKING TREES FROM NURSERY. 



Time. — In determining the time for 
transplanting orange trees we should con- 
sider, first, the condition of the trees: 
second, the season. 

The orange tree has several periods of 
growth during the year. It would be im- 
possible to define exactly these growing- 
seasons, or even to state their number, so 
much do they vary in different trees and 
under different conditions of health and 
vigor, irrigation, cultivation, etc.; but 
there are certain times when nearly all 
orange trees are dormant, and other times 
when nearly all are growing. 

The Dormant Stage.— In transplant- 
ing orange trees it is best to take them in 
their dormant stage, as they do not then 
feel the shock of removal as much as 
when they are active. Approaching a 
general rule as nearly as possible I may 
give the dormant periods as follows: 

Middle of March to the middle of April. 

The month of June. 

The month of September. 

Middle of November to the middle of 
December. 

The Various Seasons.— Many people 
transplant trees in March-April season 
with excellent results. The danger to be 
provided against at that time is in the cold 
weather which is likely to prevail. If the 
roots suffer a chill the tree is irretrievably 
stunted if not killed outright. June is 
the most popular time for planting, and, 
all things considered, the best, as neither 
excessive cool nor hot weather is en- 
countered, and the season of strongest 



growth following, exercises a powerful in 
fluence in starting the tree upon its new 
life. I have known trees planted in Sep- 
tember to thrive finely, though few peo- 
ple plant at that time. November and De- 
cember planting is not in vogue at all. 

Trimming Trees before Transplant- 
ING. — It is a good plan to prune nursery 
stock quite heavily a week or ten days 
before transplanting. This gives the trees 
a chance to recover from one shock before 
encountering the second. The shock of 
pruning has a tendency also to throw the 
tree into a more complete dormant condi- 
tion, when it suffers least from the lacera- 
tion of the roots. 

It is a universal rule in horticulture that 
in transijlanting a tree, the top should be 
cut away in proportion to the loss of roots. 
With orange trees this is almost a sine qua 
non. If the trees are not pruned before 
removal they should be pruned directly 
afterwards, and the knife should be used 
vigorously. I know an experienced grow- 
er who follows the rule of depriving his 
lemon trees of every leaf at the time of 
transplanting. He claims that they start 
more readily for this heroic treatment, 
and I am not prepared to dispute his hy- 
pothesis. 

Three Methods of Transplanting.— 
There are three common methods of trans- 
planting citrus trees: 

1st. Balling or sacking the roots. 

2d. Puddling the roots. 

3d. Packing the roots in damp straw. 



52 



THE OKANGE, 



Balling. — This is undoubtedly the best 
method, though the most laborious and 
expensive. Trees that are carefully balled 
and well planted seldom lose their leaves, 
and, with the next succeeding period of 
growth, are almost sure to make a start. 
The operation of balling is thus per- 
formed : 

A trench fourteen to sixteen inches deep 
is dug along one side of the nursery row 
cutting the earth about six inches from 
the stalks. Then the digger takes a sharp- 
edged spade, and by carefully working 
under from the bottom of the trench ex- 
poses the tap root. This he severs by a 
well directed blow or two. Next, vertical 
cuts are made in the soil on each side of 
the tree transversely with the trench, and 
a block of earth about a foot each way is 
formed. This block is carefully shaved 
off and rounded. Lastly, the spade is in- 
serted in the side opposite the trench, and 
the ball is loosened from the contiguous 
ground. A little more shaving makes it 
symmetrical all round. The ball thus 
formed should be grasped with both 
hands, and the tree lifted from its place 
and set upon the half of a grain bag 
already provided and spread upon the 
ground close by. It generally happens 
that the end of the tap root projects an 
inch or two below the ball of earth. Ac- 
cordingly a little slit is made in the middle 
of the grain bag, through which the end 
of root protrudes. The edges of the bag 
are then drawn up tightly about the ball, 
and fastened by winding with bailing rope 
or stitched with stout twine. If the ball 
is tied, the rope is first wound about it 
vertically with a hitch around the stock at 
the top and another about the tap root at 
the bottom to hold the wrap in place. Two 
vertical wraps are made, crossing each 
other at right angles, top and bottom, and 
a third turn is made about the ball hori- 
zontally, describing an equator about the 
two former meridians. The whole being 
made snug and tight so that the enclosed 
earth cannot shake loose from the roots, 
the balling is complete. Balled trees 
should be handled very carefully, and not 
transported long distances in a lumber 
wagon if a spring wagon is to be had for 
the purpose. 



Broken Balls. — If by any mischance 
the dirt is crumbled within the sack the 
wrappings should be removed entirely 
upon planting the tree. 

Condition of the Soil for Balling.— 
From the description given of the process 
of balling, it must be evident to the rea- 
der that the soil should have a good degree 
of coherence to allow so much handling. 
A clayish sandy soil is best for balling. 
But the most favorable soil even, must be 
taken at just the proper time to make the 
operation successful. About the third or 
fourth day after a rain or an irrigation is a 
safe time to begin sacking. 

When Sacking is not Desirable. — It 
is not best to sack trees if they are taken 
from a stiff clay soil, or any soil, in fact, 
that is likely to bake hard. If the balls of 
earth become thus set they enclose the 
roots like a mold of plaster of Paris, and 
the tree cannot thrive. 

Puddling. — In this method of trans- 
planting, the trench is first excavated 
and the tap roots cut as previously de- 
scribed. No effort is made, however, to 
preserve the earth intact about the roots. 
The tree being loosened, it is left standing 
in the trench with a shovelfull of dirt upon 
the roots to keep them from drying. A 
puddle is formed at some convenient point 
by mixing loam and clay to the consist- 
ancy of thick cream. A suflacient number 
of trees having been dug, they are gath- 
ered up, a few at a time, and the roots of 
each immersed in the puddle. They are 
thus encased with a film of soil which 
protects them from the drying action of 
the air. As an additional precaution, the 
roots are parked in damp straw for transit. 
For shipment long distances, a number of 
trees may be bunched together and their 
roots packed with damp straw in a barrel. 
The stocks and tops are generally wrapped 
with burlap, rushes or other material as a 
means of protection. The only objection 
I have ever heard urged against puddling 
trees is that the film of earth is sometimes 
set so firmly upon the small roots that it 
chokes them, after the manner of the 
baked or hardened ball already alluded to. 

Packing in Damp Straw.— With this 
method the tree is prepared in the same 
manner as just described, except that the 
puddling operation is omitted. I have 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



53 



transplanted trees by this method as well 
as by puddling and balling, and I find that 
the damp straw alone answers every re- 
quirement. 
The principal precaution to be observed 



in transplanting orange trees is to avoid 
the contact of air with the roots. If the 
roots be thoroughly dried, the vitality of 
the tree is lost. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Digging the Holes.— The stakes for 
the orchard having been set as described 
in a preceding chapter, the next operation 
is digging the holes. 

Size of Holes.— If the ground has been 
properly prepared, there is no necessity 
for digging the hole larger than requi- 
site for admitting the roots of the tree. 
If the trees are balled, a hole large enough 
to receive the ball is sufficient; if not 



balled, make it large enough to admit the 
roots in a natural position, i. e. without 
doubling on themselves. For the aver- 
age three or four-year-old stock a hole 
eighteen to twenty inches across and the 
same depth is ample. 

The Planting Board.— A device in 
almost universal use for fixing the point 
where the tree should stand is known as 
the planting board. 

^ — - 

FIG. 20— THE PLANTING BOARD. 

It is a light strip about five feet long, 
with a notch (A) cut in the middle, and 
Botches B and C at the extremities, as 
shown in the figure. 

Manner of Using the Board.— When 
about to dig the hole place the board on 
the ground so that the central notch A 
shall fit against the stake. Stick pins at 
notches B and C. The board may now be 
removed and the original stake at A pulled 
up and the hole dug in its place. When 
planting the tree, the exact place where it 
should stand is fixed by replacing the 
board so that the notches B and C fit upon 
their respective pegs, and the tree stan- 
ing in the hole, is held upright at the 
notch A. 

It is not necessary that the board be 
always laid on a parallel with the orchard 



PLANTING AN ORCHARD. 

lines, as a little variation in the angle wiU 
make no difference in determining the 
middle point; but it is essential that the 
board be placed on the same side of the 
stakes each time. For example, if it is 
on the south side of the stake when the 
pins at the extremities are stuck, then it 
should be adjusted to these pins exactly in 
the same manner when the tree is set and 
the board be on the south side of the tree. 
To avoid confusion it is best to follow one 
rule throughout the orchard, placing the 
board always on the same side of the 
stakes. 

Throwing the Dirt.— In digging the 
holes it is best to throw the dirt clear of 
the pegs so that it shall not interfere with 
the replacing of the board. In localities 
where the surface earth is richer than the 
subsoil, painstaking planters throw the 
top earth in a pile by itself so that it can 
be first returned to the hole, about the 



roots, and the poorer soil filled in at the 
top. 

Planting.— Two men work together 
to the greatest advantage in planting— one 
to place the board and hold the tree, and 
the other to shovel in the earth. The 
operation is thus very quickly performed. 
If the trees are sacked, the balls are placed 
in the holes without disturbing the wrap- 
ping, which will shortly rot away and 
offer no impediment to the growing roots. 
If not sacked do not take them from their 
packing of straw until ready to plant 
each in turn. Then handle with as much 
celerity as possible without slighting the 
work. The lateral roots should be care- 
fully arranged in the hole so that they lie 
in a natural position, none being doubled 
up or crossed. 

Lacerated Roots.— If the tap root or 
laterals are lacerated, cut away the injured 



54 



THE OEANGE, 



part. It is easier for the tree to make new 
roots than to heal up old ones. 

Deptec.— The tree should be planted the 
same depth that it was in nursery. 

Filling.— I have found it best to fill the 
hole only about half full, leaving a basin 
to receive water and then complete the 
filling after irrigation. 

Settling the Earth.— It is not neces- 
sary to spend time tramping the earth 
down upon the roots, as the water to be 
applied will settle it more efifectually than 
it is possible to do with the foot. 

Irrigating.— Citrus trees should al- 
ways be irrigated as soon as planted. Run 
the basin at each tree full, and after the 
water has soaked away, fill in with dry 
earth, which prevents evaporation. 

Straightening Up.— When all are 
planted go through the orchard and right 
up such trees as may be found leaning. 

Additional Pruning.— If the tree 
shows a tendency to wilt, it is a good plan 
to prune it stilljfurther, even cutting away 
to a few leaves or none at all. 

Indications.— If a tree wilts and the 
leaves cling to their stems, becoming dry 
and dead, the chances are that the tree is 
lost. If the leaves drop ofi", the tree will 
almost surely put forth new ones. 

Washing the Trees.— If the trees are 
Infested with any sort of scale or smut, 
wash them thoroughly with soap suds, 
scrubbing the stocks and spraying the 
tops. It is but fair to give them a clean 
start. 

Wrapping the Stocks.— If rabbits or 
rodents are apt to prove troublesome, it is 
a good plan to wrap the stocks with paper 
and tie lightly with twine. This keeps 
the animals from gnawing the bark. The 
wrapping is also a good protection to the 
young and tender stocks against the hot 
sun. Some people whitewash their trees 
instead of wrapping them and are well 
pleased with the result. 

Designating Varieties.— If you plant 
several varieties of trees, the best way to 
keep track of them is to make a diagram 
of the orchard in some convenient book 
of record, designating varieties by num- 
bered rows. Tags on trees are a nuisance, 
and besides, soon become weather-worn 
and obliterated. The same is true of let- 
ered stakes in the orchard ground. 



Lost Time.— The orange tree in trans- 
planting loses a year's growth; this under 
the most favorable circumstances. I do 
not mean to say that it utterly fails to grow 
the first year after removal, but that the 
check which it sustains reduces its aver- 
age size to that of trees a year younger, 
not transplanted. 

New^ Growth.— At the next succeeding 
season of growth , if the conditions are all 
favorable, the tree puts forth new shoots 
from the stock and branches. Often these 
shoots make their first appearance upon 
the stock, and cover it with a thick growth 
down to the very ground. 

Water Sprouts.— These shoots, below 
the point where they are serviceable as 
branches, are called water-sprouts, and 
they must be trimmed off at the earliest 
practicable opportunity. However it is 
not always advisable to break off these 
sprouts as soon as they appear. If the 
upper part of the tree has started new 
growth simultaneously with the stock, 
then the stock should be cleared, and the 
earlier the better. Rub off the incipient 
shoots when no bigger than the point of 
a pin and the vitality of the tree will go 
into the top, provided the top is ready to 
receive it. But when the water-sprouts 
are the only growth the tree attempts to 
make, it is advisable to let them remain 
for the good they may do. The leaves 
thus put forth will elaborate the sap and 
start the vital forces of the tree through- 
out. With the additional strength thus 
gained the top buds, in turn will be pushed 
forth, and when these shall have 
formed branches and leaves the water- 
sprouts may be safely dispensed with. 
Should the top utterly fail to grow, and 
become dead, the topmost or most vigor- 
ous of the water-sprouts may be preserved 
to form a new stock and top. 

Suckers.— This growth which starts 
from the crown of the roots just below 
the surface of the ground should be cut 
off as soon as discovered, as it will sap the 
life of the tree if allowed to grow. Only 
in one instance is there an exception to 
the rule of destruction of suckers. If you 
are satisfied the main stock is dead or 
likely to die, the sucker may be left to 
form a new tree. But bear in mind, the 
sucker tree will be a seedling. 



ITS CULTTJEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 



55 



Slow Starting.— Sometimes a tree man- 
ifests no signs of growing at the first or 
second or third season after transplanting. 
Sometimes while maintaining a healthy- 
hue of stock and limb, it remains dormant 
a whole year. In such cases there is noth- 
ing to do but to see that the tree has suffi- 
cient irrigation and cultivation, and await 
results. When it finally starts, as start it 
will, the lost time may be in a great meas- 
ure retrived by the extra vigor of growth. 

Backsets. — When newly transplanted 
trees are frosted or preyed upon by grass- 



hoppers, gophers, squirrels, rabbits or 
other pests — the foliage destroyed and the 
bark injured — they may languish for the 
first year and make a start in the second. 

Stunted Trees.— A second or third 
backset, however, and sometimes the first 
if severe, is sufficient to stunt the tree. 
When satisfied that a tree is stunted, the 
best thing you can do is to dig it up and 
throw it away. It might, with careful 
nursing, make out to live, but its exist- 
ence would be sickly and unprofitable. 
Do not waste your labor upon it. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CULTIVATION. 



Object of Cultivation. — All soils, 
loose and compact alike, form a sort of 
crust upon the surface under the action 
of rain and sunshine. Scientists tell us 
that the fine particles thus pressed to- 
gether form a series of ducts or flues, 
which by capillary attraction suck up the 
moisture from beneath and send it off in 
the form of vapor. The first office of cul- 
tivation is to break up these ducts, and 
thus summarily check the loss of moist- 
ure from the soil. The second office of 
cultivation is to destroy the weeds, for 
they, too, draw up, appropriate to their 
own use and evaporate a share of the 
moisture. The whole end and object of 
cultivation then is to conserve the supply 
of water in the earth. It would be well if 
this fact were more constantly borne in 
mind. Some people think that if they 
cultivate enough to keep the weeds out of 
their orchards they fulfill every require- 
ment. This is not the case. They are 
merely attending to one of the incidentals 
of cultivation. 

Cultivation versus Irrigation, — It is 
saidthat the most successful ph ysician 
is he who directs his efforts towards aid- 
ing Nature in the work of recuperation. 
So, I may say, the most successful culti- 
vator is the one who most aids Nature to 
preserve her store of moisture. In setting 
out to raise an orchard, were I given my 
choice of cultivation without irrigation or 
irrigation without cultivation, I would 



unhesitatingly pin my faith to cultivation 
alone. In the case of orange trees it has 
been demonstrated by Dr. O. H. Congar, 
of Pasadena, that they may be grown in 
his locality without any artificial supply 
of water, but he concedes that, to obtain 
profitable results from trees in hearing ^ 
they must be irrigated. Probably the 
middle ground, which comprehends 
thorough cultivation and judicious irriga- 
tion is best, even in bringing an orchard 
up to the bearing point. Herein many of 
the old growers made a fatal mistake. 
They flooded the ground a half dozen 
times a year and did not stir it half enough. 
The result is manifest in stunted, gnarled 
and diseased trees— trees that produce in- 
ferior fruit and are dead when they ought 
to be in their prime. 

When and How to Cultivate— Plow- 
ing.— As soon as the rainy season is well 
inaugurated it is best to plow the orchard 
ground with a single plow, throwing a 
furrow against the trees on each side, and 
leaving a dead furrow m the middle be- 
tween the rows. This mellows the soil so 
that it is in the best condition to drink up 
the rains, and, should there be a surplus 
of water it will run to the dead furrows 
instead of standing about the trees to their 
detriment. In case the orchard is located 
on sloping ground, it is best to run the fur- 
rows diagonally down the decline, as they 
thus furnish an easy fall for the surplus 
water. If th© furrows lead directly down 



56 



THE OEANGE, 



the descent the soil washes badly; and if 
they are made transversely the water col- 
lects, breaks over and runs straight down, 
washing the soil as much as in the former 
instance. The single plowing in the fall 
or early winter I regard as ample for this 
kind of cultivation, if the soil is reasona- 
bly loose. Should it be of such character, 
however, as to be considerably compacted 
hy the winter rains, another plowing in 
early spring is required. At most, do not 
plow more than twice in a year. After 
the dry season has set in, deep cultivation 
causes evaporation rather than retarding 
it. In plowing be careful not to go too 
deep in the first half dozen furrows next 
the trees. Avoid lacerating the roots which 
may lie near the surface, though I will 
say frankly that if they are close enough 
to be much interfered with by a single 
plow, it is a bad sign — a sign of too much 
irrigation. 

Cultivating. — Aside from the one or 
two plowings, the rest of the year's work 
is done with the cultivator^ followed, in 
some instances, by the harrow or clod 
crusher or "slicker." Many kinds of 
cultivators are in use, from the old-style 
hand implement, drawn by one horse, to 
the Acme and others, with a seat for the 
driver, and requiring two, three or four 
horses. In selecting an implement, the 
orchardist must be guided by the require- 
ments of his ground and the amplitude of 
his purse. Each implement in use is prob- 
ably best adapted to some particular soil. 
If the ground is stony, one kind may not 
work at all; if inclined to break up in 
clods, another may be useless. Study 
your requirements and see what your 
neighbors use and like best before you in- 
vest in an implement. During the spring 
months it is a good plan to cultivate after 
every rain. Each rain may prove the last 
of the season, you know, and it will not 
do to lose any moisture that may be hus- 
banded for the long, dry summer. For 



soils that are more or less stifif, a clod- 
crusher, constructed of planks, to drag 
over the ground and mash down the 
lumps is in general use. Some growers 
employ, on more mellow soils, a "slick- 
er," an implement not altogether unlike a 
stone-boat, by which the surface is re- 
duced to a fine tilth and smoothed off like 
a shirt bosom. This gives an orchard a 
most tidy and well-kept appearance after 
cultivation, and is practical as well as 
aesthetic. The harrow is occasionally used 
to run over the ground and break the 
lumps or the crust that may have formed 
after a rain. I would not advise a very 
constant use of the harrow, however, as 
its effect is to pack the soil just below the 
surface. There is also more likelihood of 
injury to the trees from it. In all the cul- 
tivation of the orchard, I must enjoin the 
greatest care. Both a steady horse and a 
steady and experienced man should be 
employed, or great, perhaps irreparable, 
damage may result. It is a good plan to 
use a short single-tree or to wrap the ends 
with cloths to avoid barking the trees. 

After the rains are over, it is necessary 
that the orchard ground be at all times in 
a mellow condition and free from w^eeds. 
For this, one cultivation a month general- 
ly sufiaces. A cultivation should follow 
each irrigation if water has been run on 
the surface at all. To make a clean job of 
weed exterminating, I have found it best 
to let a man follow the cultivator with a 
hoe and chop up everything that escapes 
the implement. Some of the three and 
four-horse cultivators have weed cutters 
attached, but even with them it is neces- 
sary to hoe the weeds close to the trees. 

Judgment the Best Monitor.— If the 
orchardist have a knowledge of the theory 
of cultivation, his own judgment will be 
the best guide as to when and how the 
work should be done. Only let him be 
thorough if he would command success. 



CHAPTER XV. 

IRRIGATION. 

The Irrigating Season. — From the There are exceptions, of course, as in the 
first of April to the first of November may year 1884, when rain fell in all these so- 
be accounted California's rainless season, called dry months except July; but, tak- 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



57 



ing one year with another and averaging 
the longer with the shorter seasons, the 
seven-months rule will hold good. It is 
during this rainless period that irrigation 
becomes necessary to sustain vegetable 
life. Formerly irrigation was much more 
general and frequent than in latter years. 
Within a comparatively recent period it 
has been determined that thorough culti- 
vation will, in a great measure, reduce the 
necessity of applying water artificially, 
and, in the case of many varieties of 
grapes and deciduous trees, irrigation may 
be dispensed with entirely. Orange trees 
to thrive well and bring forth profitable 
crops, must be irrigated. 

Over-Ikeigation to be Avoided — It 
is a mistake, hoAvever, to suppose that 
because some water is good, a great deal 
more water is better. No error is more 
pernicious or, in the end, more certainly 
ruinous to trees than excessive irrigation. 

In 1877 a committee of the Sonthern 
California Horticultural Society, appoint- 
ed to investigate the matter of irrigation, 
made a valuable report, which was sum- 
marized in the following paragraph: 

"The systems of irrigation in use 
throughout the district are varied. Many 
use the old system of flooding the entire 
ground every three or four weeks, using 
water to the exclusion of cultivation. 
Others irrigate less and cultivate more. 
We find, in fact, all phases of irrigation 
and cultivation, from all water and no 
work to all work and no water. Neither 
extreme is profitable, but a golden mean 
of two or three thorough irrigations, with 
thoroguh cultivation, your committee be- 
lieve the orchardist will find the most suc- 
cessful. On heavy soils the water should 
not touch the tree and great care should 
be exercised after each irrigation that the 
ground may not bake." 

A Matter of Education.— When the 
ground about the tree is frequently flood- 
ed, the roots are drawn to the surface. 
The tree then becomes more sensitive to 
every change of moisture, and if water is 
not applied at the regular and frequent 
intervals to which the tree has been accus- 
tomed, it wilts and droops. It is not to be 
supposed that the best of human care can 
furnish a supply equal to the storage res- 
ervoirs of nature which lie deeper in the 



earth, and to which the roots ought to be 
encouraged to go for their supplies. Trees 
are creatures of habit no less than men, 
and, "as the twig is bent, the tree's in- 
clined." It is best to commence this edu- 
cation early; if you postpone it too long 
your orchard is likely to prove a lot of 
spoiled children on your hands. 

How Much to Irrigate.— During the 
first summer after planting young orange 
trees, it may be necessary to water them 
every month or six weeks. Make it a 
point to be thorough with your work when 
you do irrigate. Let the water penetrate 
deep, and assist the young roots in work- 
ing down. Do not under any circumstan- 
ces, allow the ground to remain after ir- 
rigating in a sodden condition, to bake 
hard and evaporate the moisture almost 
as rapidly as it was applied. A tree thus 
neglected is soon m a worse condition 
than it would have been if it had received 
no irrigation at ail. I have found it the 
best plan in treating young trees to exca- 
vate a considerable basin about each tree 
and fill this basin with water once or even 
twice if deemed necessary. Then, after 
the water has entirely soaked away, fill 
the basin with dry earth. This covering 
acts as a mulch, preventing the evapora- 
tion of the water applied, and the tree is 
prepared to wait a long time for another 
drink. The second summer, trees will 
flourish with three or four irrigations, and 
the third summer they will thrive with 
two or three. 

Want of Irrigation— How Manifest- 
ed. — Be governed by circumstances. If 
you see that a tree is suffering, as indicat- 
ed by curled or wilted and leathery leaves 
and drooping stems, do not delay the ap- 
plication of water. It needs help at once. 
If you follow the plan here indicated and 
do your work thoroughly, you will find 
these calls less and less frequent as the 
tree obtains its foothold on terra firma. 
You will then have brought it up in the 
way it should go, and it will reward you 
in future by a healthy and profitable life 
and a minimum of labor exacted for its 
sustenance. It is not advisable to leave 
the tree until it hangs out its signals of dis- 
tress before applying water. Keep a sharp 
watch over your orchard and you may de- 
tect the premonitory symptoms in one or 



58 



THE OEANGE, 



two trees. Then you know the whole or- 
chard will shortly be in the same condi- 
tion, and it is time to begin another irri- 
gation. Although the orange is a hardy 
tree, and, when watered, quickly revives 
from a most distressed condition, it is 
better that this check to its grouth be 
avoided altogether by keeping it constant- 
ly fresh and vigorous. 

Various Methods of Irrigation.— 
There are many different ways of irriga- 
ting trees, eacii one adapted to its locality 
and circumstances. 

The Old Way— Flooding.— On the 
most level lands of the valley water is 
run in ditches or zanjas and turned into 
the orchard, flooding the entire surface. 
This method of running water in open 
ditches implies three things: 1st — An 
abundance of water; 2d — nearly level land; 
3d — a tolerably compact soil, so that the 
water is carried in the ditch without too 
great wastage. After the irrigation the 
entire surface should be cultivated. 

The Basin Method.— A more modern 
and better system consists in turning the 
water into baisins made about the trees. 
The baisin may be round or square, and 
consists of a ridge or dyke thrown up to 
retain the water about the trees until it 
seeps away. Latterly a plow has been in- 
vented for throwing up these ridges, and 
a man and a team can make with it a 
hundred baisins a day. The size of the 
basin increases with the age of the tree, 
the plan usually followed being to make 
it as broad as the overhanging top. When 
the trees are full-grown these baisins are 
generally made contiguous, so that nearly 
the entire surface of the ground is flooded. 

Irrigating in Furrows. — Another 
plan is to run two or three furrows along 
each side of a row of trees, and graduate 
the supply of water so that it will fill all 
the furrows without overflowing. In this 
manner the water is allowed to run from 
six lo twelve hours, and by seepage the 
ground is thoroughly moistened along the 
entire row. If the head of water is suffi- 
cient, a number of rows may be watered 
simultaneously, the supply for each being 
diverted from the main stream. The 
arrangement for this purpose is a flume 
running along the highest side of the or- 
chard. From this flume the irrigating 



furrows lead out at right angles, and the 
water is supplied to them through auger- 
holes in the side of the flume. 

Sub-Irrigation.— A few years ago some 
Los Angeles gentlemen patented a system 
of sub-irrigation, and it has been intro- 
duced to a slight extent. It consists of a 
series of concrete pipes laid in the ground 
deep enough to escape the cultivator, and 
through them water is conveyed and ap- 
plied directly to the roots of every tree 
in an orchard. An ingenuous machine 
worked by hand makes and lays the pipe 
simultaneously, turnmg it out (pardon 
the simile) very much as a butcher turns 
out bologna sausages with his stuffer. 
The pipe is thus made continuous, and 
there are no joints to bother either in the 
making or the leaking afterward. A plug 
of established size allows a little of the 
water to exude beneath each tree, and it 
gradually seeps through the soil, fur- 
nishing a reliable supply, and that ap- 
plied where it will do the most good. Of 
course quite a complicated system of 
pipes is required, with a main running 
from the water supply and laterals ex- 
tending along each row of trees or between 
each two rows. There is also a piece of 
pipe set vertically over each irrigating 
orifice, extending to the surface,|.like a 
miniature well. This receives the water 
as discliarged allowing it gradually to 
soak away, and at the same time prevents 
the earth from baking over the orifice and 
closing it up. The only mechanical ob- 
jection I have to the system is its compli- 
cation and the likelihood of its getting 
out of order. There is also danger of de- 
stroying the vertical pipes or wells in 
cultivation. A still more serious objec- 
tion is the great cost, which amounts to 
something like fifty or sixty dollars an 
acre. This system has been in use for 
some years in a number of places in 
Southern California, and has generally 
given satisfaction. There is by this meth- 
od a great saving in the labor of irrigating 
as well as in working the ground. The 
water being applied beneath the surface, 
does the tree the utmost 'possible good 
and at the same time does not start the 
weeds or cause the ground to bake. The 
invention is as meritorious as it is ingen- 
ious. 



ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



59 



An improvement on the above-named 
system of sub-irrigation has been invent- 
ed and patented by Mr. L. M. Holt, of 
Riverside, and is in process of introduc- 
tion. It comprehends a system of pipes 
as recounted, but dispenses with the ver- 
tical wells, which are referred to as ob- 
jectionable. 

Mesa Irrigation.— On the mesas it 
frequently happens that the irrigating 
stream is not large enough to allow of 
the first three methods named; or that the 
pitch of the ground is too abrupt and the 
soil too porous to admit of the running of 
water in open ditches at all. Here the 
most pamstaking and economical meth- 
ods are in vogue. The water is generally 
distributed in wooden flumes or in cement 
or iron pipes, and applied directly to 
basins made about the trees. With water 
confined in a pipe, under pressure, and a 
section of hose to apply it with, a man 
may do quite as good execution as with a 
considerable head flowing by gravitation 
in a ditch. The advantage of the pipe 
and hose method is in the direct and easy 
application and the avoidance of all wast- 
age. 

Distributing by Barrels. — Where 
pipes and flumes are not available, water 
is sometimes distributed in barrels or 
tank wagons. A hose-bibb is usually 



fastened in each tank or barrel, with hose 
attached, and the team hauls the wagon 
along as rapidly as the basins are filled. 
This is a somewhat slow and expensive 
method of irrigation, however, and is re- 
sorted to only when more ready means of 
distribution are not available. 

Cultivating After Irrigating. — • 
Where the basin method is employed, 
and dry earth shoveled in to cover all the 
soil that is wet, as well as where sub- 
irrigation is in use, a cultivation is by no 
means imperative; but with all flooding 
methods the cultivation should invariably 
follow. 

Mulching. — Some people apply a 
mulch of straw to the basin surfaces after 
irrigation and thus avoid cultivating. But 
this system has its drawbacks. There is 
almost certain to be enough grain in the 
straw to seed the ground, and bring forth 
a crop which requires more labor in the 
hoeing up than the thorough cultivation 
of the soil would have amounted to. 

Do Not Cultivate Too Soon.— With 
clayey soils, and in fact with all of a stiff 
nature it will not do to cultivate directly 
after irrigating. A practiced eye is re- 
quired to tell just when the ground may 
be stirred without danger of breaking it 
up into lumps and clods. 



CHAPTER XVL 

PRUNING. 



Objects. — In pruning the orange tree 
there are two objects in view — 

1st. To give it symmetry. 

2d. To make it healthy and productive. 
No part of the orchardist's work is more 
entertaining than this, because it furnishes 
intellectual as well as manual occupation. 
Every tree is a study. I may go further, 
and say that every tree is a new study, for 
there is such an infinite variety in the 
combinations of stocks, branches and 
stems that novel applications of the gen- 
eral principles of pruning occur in each 
instance. A man who would prune suc- 
cessfully must keep up a constant think- 
ing, and should be prepared to give a 



good and sufficient reason for every cut 
he makes. His employment is like that 
of the sculptor, for he is transforming an 
ungainly object into one of beauty; but 
unlike the sculptor, the pruner must cut 
deep, calculating to a nicety how nature 
may be relied on to round out the contour. 
It is necessary that the pruner keep an 
ideal constantly in mind, and that from 
the earliest stages of his work he strive 
for the accomplishment of his ideal. To 
this end he should thoroughly inform 
himself in advance of the general theory 
of pruning; of the various systems em- 
ployed and the one that is best adapted'to 
his own orchard. 



60 



THE ORANGE, 



Two Systems of Peuning.— There are 
two systems in vogue, one known as high 
pruning, the other as low pruning. Low 
pruning is resorted to with lemons and 
the dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties of 
budded oranges. It consists simply in 
forming the head of the tree close to the 
ground— say within a foot or two of the 
surface — and modeling the growth some- 
what after a shrub. The high system 
prunes away the branches near the 
ground, exposing the trunk and forming 
a conventional tree top. This method is 
emploj^ed with nearly all seedling trees 
that grow to the standard size, and with a 
considerable portion of the lemons and 
budded oranges. 

The Low System. — The advantages 
claimed for this method of pruning are— 

1st. That the head of the tree being 
brought close to the ground, the picking 
of the fruit is greatly facilitated. 

2d. That the trunk is closely shaded, 
thereby preyenting sunburn and other 
evils coming from too much exposure to 
the weather. 

3d. That the soil immediately about the 
tree is shaded and the moisture thus pre- 
served. 

With this method of pruning also the 
branches are usually "shortened in" and 
this results in a fourth advantage in that 
the fruit is borne closer to the body of the 
tree, and the branches being rendered 
stocky from the cutting back, are not like- 
ly to break down with their burden. The 
tree with low head and shortened branch- 
es needs no props in the fruiting season. 
This method of low pruning is much em- 
ployed at Riverside, in San Bernardino 
county, where many of our most progress- 
ive orange growers are to be found. The 
exemplification there given must certain- 
ly convince one of its advantages in the 
respects claimed. For semi-dwarf and 
dwarf-budded orange trees, low pruning 
is the system I would recommend. The 
objection usually urged against it is the 
difficulty of working close to the tree with 
the cultivator, by reason of the low-hang- 
ing branches. This can be obviated by 
choosing a cultivator to meet the special 
requirements. An evil to be guarded 
against is the thickening of the top — the 
great multiplication of branches as a re- 
ult of the shortening process . 



This diflBlculty may be overcome by a 
free use of the knife, keeping the top open 
enough to admit a circulation of air, and 
the tree will then be as healthy as though 
the top were four or five feet higher and 
proportionately broader. In the case of 
lemons, the theory has been advanced 
that they bear much better with low prun- 
ing than with high, as this manner of 
growth must closely conform to the natu- 
ral habit of the tree. It should be borne 
in mind that low pruning does not con- 
template an abandonment of the tree to its 
own sweet will and way in growing. 
Neither is it allowable to leave suckers 
from the roots or water sprouts from the 
lower trunk. As close and careful atten- 
tion is required in low pruning as in high. 

High Pruning — Young Stock, — In 
pruning young stock by the high system 
it is well to make haste slowly— ^■. e., cut 
away the lower branches only as the tree 
thickens its stock and throws its vitality 
into the upper top. It is conceded that 
about the proper proportion for a standard 
tree is two-thirds top and one-third stock. 
With quite young trees the proportion of 
top may be greater than this with good 
advantage. Lateral branches growing close 
to the ground have a tendency to thicken 
the stock and make it upright and self- 
sustaining. Above all, avoid trimming 
young trees up to mere switches, with just 
a tuft of leaves at the top. There can "be 
no more certain method of making them 
crooked and weakly. As good a general 
rule as I can lay down is, to keep the tree 
well proportioned and symmetrical at all 
stages of its growth. After the first year 
in orchard, the two-thirds rule as regards 
the top may be closely followed. The 
main forks of the tree may be established 
at the height of four to six feet from the 
ground with seedlings and at three to four 
feet with budded varieties. Remember 
that the trunk of the tree grows but very 
little longitudinally and that the height of 
the top must be regulated by cutting away 
the lower branches. If a standard tree is 
properly and reasonably pruned, the con- 
tour of the top when viewed from a dis- 
tance will be not unlike the almost perfect 
sphere of the fruit it bears. 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



61 



Pruning — Implements Required.— 
pair of gloves to protect the hands from 
the thorns; a sharp knife, a small saw, and 
some paint or wax to cover the stubs of 
large branches; this is the outfit for a 
pruner. The pruning shears are much in 
use, but I do not like them except for clip- 
ping the ends of branches. When applied 
to severing a branch at the trunk, they 
leave a stub which is not to be tolerated, 
and if this be pared away by the knife the 
work is doubled. If one prunes his trees 
from their youth up, he grows in knowl- 
edge with them, so to speak, and while 
they are never much at fault, he is never 
at great loss to know how they should be 
treated. But to undertake the pruning of 
older trees which have been allowed to 
grow half wild, and bring them to a state 
of civilization— there's the rub. It is vastly 
better, of course, that they should never 
reach that vexatious stage, but when such 
is the case there is nothing for it but 
heroic treatment. When Governor Stone- 
man purchased his estate in San Gabriel, 
fifteen or twenty years ago, the grove of 
old oranges on the place was almost un- 
productive. He sent his foreman into it 
with knife and saw, under instructions to 
prune out half of the tops. After perform- 
ing his task the man reported to the Gov- 
ernor, stating by the way that he though 
he had ruined the trees. Governor Stone- 
man took a look at the orchard and sent 
him back to prune still further. The re- 
sult was that the next year there was a fine 
crop of oranges. 

Pruning Young Trees. — The best plan 
is to go over them quite frequently — as 
much as three or four times a year — and 
prune lightly each time. 

Time of Pruning. — Whenever the tree 
is in a dormant condition it may be pruned 
advantageously. December is a popular 
time for this work; also late in the spring 
before the heavy July - August growth 
commences, and just following the gather- 
ing of the oranges. 

Thumb Pruning.— This consists of rub- 
bing off with thumb or finger shoots be- 
fore they form any woody fiber. The 
practice is quite allowable, and indeed to 
be commended under certain restrictions. 
On general principles, it conduces more to 
the welfare of the tree to stop an undesir- 



able limb before it has made much growth 
than to let it grow on only to be sacrificed 
at last with greater shock and loss of vital- 
ity to the tree. But I would advise great 
conservatism in pruning young trees just 
starting. This is a critical time with the 
tree and it needs a breathing surface. If 
the leaves which it throws out for this 
purpose should happen to be in the wrong 
place, it is often better to leave them until 
the tree gets it breath, i. e., hardens its 
new growth and makes other leaves to 
elaborate its sap. Anything approaching 
a general pruning of an orange tree while 
making new growth should be avoided, as 
the operation is likely to check all further 
growth for that period and may stunt the 
tree. 

Pruning Older Trees. — The novice 
looking at a neglected tree, with its tangle 
of branches, is dumbfounded with the task 
of pruning. Let him but go at the work 
systematically, however, and he will find 
the plan of the mighty maze. 

A Few Rules For Pruning.— 1st. Be- 
gin at the ground and cut away all suckers 
growing from the crown of the roots. Dig, 
if necessary, to the place where the sucker 
issues from the root and cut away the little 
protuberance from which the sprout grows . 

2d. Cut away all water-sprouts growing 
from the trunk of the tree. Remove the 
knots or little protuberances here also, 
paring smooth with the trunk. 

3d. Work along the trunk into the top of 
the tree, and cut away all small, dwarfed 
branches which have neither vitality to 
make a large growth nor room to make 
it in. 

4th. Lop off such main branches as 
throw the top out of equilibrium or de- 
stroy its symmetry. 

5th. Cut away all minor branches that 
are superfluous. Consider a branch super- 
fluous (a) when it crosses another or con- 
flicts with another in any way; (6) when 
it grows directly above another, and would 
at some future time, conflict it; (c) when 
there are parallel branches too close to- 
gether, a part must be taken away; {d) 
when a number of branches have put out 
from the end of a shortened limb, one, 
two or three only should be left. 

6th. Having thinned the top sufficiently 



62 



THE OEANGE, 



from within, survey it externally and lop 
off the ends of such branches as destroy 
the regularity of outline. 

A tree thus thinned out admits a free 
circulation of air, which is as good in a 
sanitary point of yiew as fresh air for an 
individual. The tree is then able to cope 
with its enemy the scale and smut, and its 
fruit is cleaner, larger and better therefor. 

Hints About the Woek.— In cutting a 
limb of good size, the neatest method is to 
saw it from below, raising the limb gradu- 
ally so that it shall not pinch the saw. In 
this way a smooth cut may be made close 
to the body of the tree and there is no dan- 



ger that the limb in falling may strip off a 
portion of bark from the trunk. If the 
limb must be sawed from above, first cut 
the bark below to avoid the tearing away 
referred to. 

Do not leave a stub of a limb protruding 
from the trunk or a main branch. Cut 
smooth and close up in order that the bark 
may readily close over the wound. 

In cases where limbs of half an inch or 
more in diameter are sawed, it is a good 
plan to daub the cut surface with paint or 
grafting wax to prevent it from drying 
out and checking. 



CHAPTER XVII 

FERTILIZING. 



In one respect the orange growers of 
California are behind the times. They 
cultivate thoroughly, irrigate scientifically 
and appreciate the value of good pruning; 
they know the book of insect pests from 
Genesis to Exodus; they grow the best 
fruit of the best varieties known; they 
gather freely and in riches increase and 
multiply, hut they do not replenish the earth. 
By this single dereliction they approve 
themselves short-sighted, improvident — 
gathering for themselves to impoverish 
their children ; building for a day, not for 
all time. 

There are old orange groves in Los An- 
geles county that scarcely pay the cost of 
cultivation; — trees in a semi-dormant con- 
dition the greater part of the time, with 
leaves of a sickly yellow color and fruit 
small, leathery of pulp and lacking in 
flavor. These trees have been undergoing 
a process of starvation for ten, fifteen or 
twenty years. It is a wonder that they 
have maintained the unequal struggle so 
long. Indeed, had it not been for the de- 
gree of fertilization which comes from the 
application of water in repeated irrigations 
they would probably have succumbed 
long ago. It is not in reason that any soil 
can sustain the continual demand made 
upon it for the formation of a larger tree 



and the annual production of a crop of 
fruit without becoming exhausted. Groves 
in this impoverished condition need to be 
renovated, first by a heavy pruning of the 
trees, and second by a thorough renewal 
of the soil. With this stimulus the trees 
will make a new start and regain their 
former productiveness. 

In Florida, and in most other countries 
where orange growing is prosecuted as a 
scientific industry, much attention is paid 
to fertilizing. Rev. T. W. Moore, in his 
work on orange culture in Florida, says: 

"No crop feeds more ravenously than 
the orange, and none will convert so large 
an amount of suitable fertilizers into fruit 
so profitably. Much of our Florida land 
will produce and sustain fine trees for a 
few years without the aid of manure; but 
after some years of fruiting the leaves will 
begin to turn yellow, indicating a defici- 
ency in the soil." He then discusses the 
various fertilizers in use, naming the com- 
mercial compounds of ground bone, pot- 
ash and sulphuric acid, Peruvian guano, 
land plaster, green crops turned under, 
stable manure, and swamp muck. 

In California not one of these fertilizers 
is in use, unless it be stable manure in 
exceptional instances. The reason that 
our fruit growers have paid so little atten- 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



63 



tion to this subject is mainly due, I think, 
to their unwitting renewal of the soil by 
irrigation, making it possible for trees thus 
sustained to flourish and bear good crops 
forti number of years. No attention was 
paid to the matter of fertilizing per se and 
so cultivators thought, if they thought at 
all on the subject, that their trees were 
doing well enough without manures and 
would never require them. Had the re- 
newal of the soil been a more marked 
necessity it would have elicited more at- 
tention. 

FERTiLiZATioisr BY Water.— Irrigation 
fertilizes the soil in two ways : 

1st. By the mechanical action of the 
water, which takes up the fine particles of 
vegetable matter in passing along the 
ditches and deposits them as a silt in the 
basins about the trees. 

2d. By the chemical elements contained 
in the water itself. 

A propos of this subject I here present 
an analysis of the water of the Los An- 
geles river, made by Prof. E. W. Hilgard, 
of the University of California: 

Total residue of sample tested 17.53 
grains per gallon, of which 8.37 grains 
consisted of common Glauber's salts, etc., 
and 9.16 grains carbonate of lime, magne- 
sia and silica. The detailed analysis is as 
follows: 

Chloride of sodium (common salt)... 1.004 
Sulphate of sodium (Glauber's salts).. 7.369 



Carbonate of lime 0.382 

Carbonate of magnesia 4.287 

Silica 1.171 

Sulphate of lime 0.776 

Phosphate of lime 2.182 

Iron and magnesia carbonates 0.259 

Alumina 0.100 



17.530 

The water of the Los Angeles river is 
primarily derived from the mountains, 
the same as nearly all of the irrigating 
water used in Southern California, and 
while there may be a great variation in 
the chemical constituents of different 
streams and springs it is probable that all 
are more or less charged with fertilizing 
elements. 

The Fertiltzing to be Considered in 
Irrigation. — Orange growers, if they are 
wise, will consider the fertilizing efiect of 
water in irrigation and strive to make the 
most of it. In this connection I wish to 



caution them against the plan somewhat 
in vogue of allowing water to run in 
channels along a row of trees, the portion 
not absorbed flowing away as waste. By 
this method the mechanical fertilization 
|)reviously referred to, is entirely lost 
More than this, the very soil about the 
trees is robbed of some of its best ele- 
ments, all being carried away to enrich 
some adjoining field, or mayhap, the 
roadside. When we consider irrigation in 
this light, the basin method is by far the 
more preferable. 

Water Fertilization Not Sufficient. 
— While I am disposed to allow full meas- 
ure of importance to the fertilizing which 
comes from irrigation, I would enjoin the 
fact that this alone is not sufficient. The 
old groves alluded to, which have ex- 
hausted their partially renovated soils, are 
proof of this theory. 

Substantial Fertilizers Required. — 
A full grown orange tree maintains a 
wealth of foliage, forms new wood and 
leaves five or six times annually and pro- 
duces from one to five thousand oranges. 
The organism from which all this is re- 
quired deserves good food and plenty of it. 

Manures at Hand. — Nearly every fruit 
grower has at hand the means of fertilizing 
his orchard properly if he will only de- 
vote sufficient attention to the subject. 
Instead of allowing the refuse of his barn 
yard to dry out and burn out through the 
long summer and to leach away in winter, 
he should have it preserved and applied 
to the orchard ground. 

A Compost Heap. — A good v/ay is to 
establish a compost heap at some place 
convenient for wetting down during the 
summer. A water-tight vat, built in the 
ground or slightly depressed is best, but a 
mere excavation where the earth is com- 
pact will suffice. Into this let all the barn 
yard refuse be thrown, together with all 
the bones that are available, and all the 
ashes from the house. In lieu of a plenti- 
ful supply of ashes muriate of potash may 
be used, which wall thoroughly decompose 
the bones. Let the compost heap be wet 
occasionally to facilitate decomposition, 
and if too much heat is generated let the 
mass be forked over. In this way a large 
quantity of the best fertilizing matter may 



64 



THE OEANGE, 



be accumulated in the course of a year, 
and the cost will be merely nominal. 

Applying the Manure. — As soon as 
the winter rains are well started the ma- 
nure may be applied to the orchard. Care 
should be taken not to heap it about the 
bodies of the trees. It is of very little use 
there in any event, and may do harm. It 
should be spread over the ground as far 
as the lateral roots extend and, with large 
trees, the whole surface of the ground 
may be covered with advantage. Turn it 
in with a plow, and the work is done. The 
rains will carry the soluble elements down 
into the earth, making them available for 
the roots, and the fibrous matter will be 
incorporated with the surface soil to its 
great benefit. Stiff soils are thus rendered 
more friable, and sandy soils more loamy. 



Both will be susceptible to finer tilth and 
will retain moisture the better therefor. 

Artificial Fertilizers. — When Cali- 
fornia orange growers shall have utilized 
the cheap fertilizers at hand, which now 
go to waste, and then feel the necessity 
for more concentrated manures, it will be 
time to talk to them about the manufac- 
tured article. My object at present is to 
urge upon them the subject of fertilizing 
in the main. If they do it at all they will 
do it well. I believe the home-made com- 
post heap, as outlined above, would fur- 
nish all that is required in the way of fer- 
tilizers at a tithe of the expense of the 
commercial compounds. 

Let the California orange grower renew 
his soil in some way, and the sooner he 
begins this task the better. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ENEMIES OF THE ORANGE TREE. 



The orange tree has its enemies; — so 
have w^e all. Probably the horde of orange 
tree pests is no more numerous or impla- 
cable than that which preys upon our 
other domestic trees; but when it comes to 
numbering and cataloguing them — aye, 
or fighting them either — they seem for- 
midable enough. It is this numbering and 
cataloguing and studying their habits 
which painstaking men have performed 
for us that has placed within our hands 
the weapons for their destruction. Let 
nobody be appalled by the array of orange- 
tree pests presented in these and subse- 
quent pages; they do not all attack at 
once, and by taking them in detail and 
following prescribed methods, every one 
of them can be vanquished. 

The Gopher. — This is a .little animal 
resembling a rat; somewhat more com- 
pactly built and with shovel teeth and a 
stubby tail. He burrows in the ground 
and is almost a universal pest in Califor- 
nia. He is especially, destructive with 
orange trees because he attacks the roots, 
many times doing the utmost damage 
without giving evidence upon the surface 
that he is at work. The first indication. 



perhaps, is the wilting of the leaves, and 
then, when one seeks the cause, the tree 
topples over, the main root having been 
eaten entirely away. In attacking large 
trees the gopher's method is to girdle the 
main stock just below the surface and then 
destroy the lateral roots by peeling away 
the bark. 

How TO Fight Him. — The way to serve 
the gopher is to carry the war into Africa, 
and fight a battle of extermination. Do 
not wait for him to attack a tree. As soon 
as you discover his mound of earth thrown 
up anywhere in the orchard, or near it, 
open hostilities. 

Poison. — I have found crystals of strych- 
nine one of the handiest and surest means 
of giving the gopher his quietus. I pro- 
vide myself with a little bottle or box of 
poisoned raisins which I keep constantly 
in my pocket while about the farm. Then, 
upon discovering a gopher mound I dig 
it away and work down until the hole is 
exposed. A couple of the raisins are 
thrown in as far as they will go and the 
gopher is left to his fate. Sometimes, 
hower, he resists temptation to the ex- 
tent of filling the hole and throwing the 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



65 



raisins up with the dirt. Then it is nec- 
essary to dig and try it again. If he re- 
fuses the raisin bait entirely, try him with 
a wedge of poisoned watermelon, or a 
piece of carrot or turnip or sweet potato. 
Never give up until you are sure that the 
gopher is dead. If allowed to remain he 
will surely do some mischief and, what 
is worse, he will soon have a family to 
join him in his marauding. After pois- 
oning a hole, you will generally find it 
filled up, but if there are no after evi- 
dences of work in that vicinity you may 
conclude that the poison has been effec- 
tive. As previously remarked, strych- 
nine is the best destroyer. Pulverize the 
crystals snd insert only a little of the pow- 
der in the bait. Arsenic will not serve at 
all; the gopher fattens on it. 

Traps.— Several patterns of gopher traps 
are In use, the best of which are skeleton 
claws, which are inserted in the hole and 
close with a spring upon the gopher when 
he pushes the trigger. In setting them it 
is best to dig down to the main runaway 
and place the trap as nearly on a level as 
possible. Then cover the hole with some- 
thing to exclude the light. The most suc- 
cessful trap I have eyer found is called 
the Gushing, and is constructed of wire, 
with a sheet-iron trigger. It has " a very 
taking way " with the gophers. 

Squirrels. — Another burrowing pest is 
the ground squirrel. He has his nest be- 
low ground and a hole for entrance and 
exit much larger than the gopher hole, 
which he always leaves open. He does 
not attack the roots of a tree unless they 
happen to be in his way while tunneling. 
The damage which he does the orange 
tree is in gnawing the bark of the trunk. 

Exterminators. — Squirrels are exter- 
minated by poison and by fumigations 
with apparatus gotten up for the purpose 
of driving bi-sulphide or carbon gas or 
brimstone smoke into their holes. Wrap- 
ping or whitewashing the trees, as sug- 
gested in the chapter on planting, is a 
good means of protection against squir- 
rels. These pests are by no means so uni- 
versal as gophers and are more easily dis- 
posed of. 

Rabbits.— Both the Jack and the **Cot- 
ton Tail" rabbit are destructive enemies 
to the orange tree, gnawing the bark as 



high as they can reach. Wrapping or 
whitewashing the trunk is a protection 
against them. Some people suspend bits 
of bright tin in their trees, the glint of 
which in either sunlight or moonlight, 
frightens the depredators away. Another 
method is to smear the trunks with dilut- 
ed blood. The rabbit has a fine sense of 
smell, and this oftense to his olfactories 
keeps him away. Kabbits are disposed of 
with the shot gun with double advantage, 
if one has time to hunt them. Otherwise 
poison may be used or the services of a 
good dog or cat invoked. AVhen one starts 
an orchard in a comparatively new and 
wild region, all measures of protection 
seem ineffectual except a rabbit-tight 
fence. 

Grasshoppers.— In newly settled local- 
ities grasshoppers are apt to prove trou- 
blesome for a number of years, or until 
all the contiguous lands are brought under 
cultivation. Plowing the ground seems 
to kill their eggs and put an end to the 
nuisance. When grasshoppers prevail to 
a considerable extent they destroy young 
orange trees by denuding them of leaves 
and even stripping the bark from the ten- 
der shoots. The best protection to small 
trees is to wrap the stocks with paper or 
cloth and enclose the top in a grain bag or 
other covering. Chickens are of great 
service in making war upon grasshoppers. . 
I have colonized my flocks in the orange- 
orchard with the most satisfactory results 
to the chickens and the trees. 

Scale Insects.— The most formidable 
enemies, after all, are the scale insects; 
probably because they are the most in- 
significant. They belong to a low order 
of animal life known as coccidse. I shall 
not here attempt a techinal description of ~ 
the scale insects, but will rather refer the^ 
reader to the scientific discussion of the 
subject taken fron the work of Hon. 
Matthew Cooke and appearing as an ap- , 
pendix to this work. I cannot too highly, 
commend the efforts of Mr. Cooke in be- 
half of the fruit growers of our State. . 
They owe him a debt of gratitude which* 
must needs be paid in installments by 
successive generations. For the fullest 
information relative to insects injurious to . 
all tree and plant life I lake j)leasure, ia^ 



66 



THE OKANGE; 



referring my readers to Mr. Cooke's 
work.* 

The Black Scale.— This is the most 
common, and is considered the least dan- 
gerous of the scale family. It may exist 
in a tree a long time without destroying it, 
but we may be sure the effect is constant- 
ly deleterious. The scale appears in all 
tints from a whity yellow of the newly- 
hatched to a brown of middle age and 
black in maturity, and in form is a little 
blister adhering to leaf, stem or stock. It 
does not attach itself to the fruit. Trees 
thus infested should be thoroughly 
pruned and washed with a solution of 
whale-oil soap as directed in the appendix. 

Fungus, or Smut.— This is an attend- 
ant of the black scale. Scientific investi- 
gation has shown that the scale excretes a 
gummy substance called honey-dew, 
which, in falling, attaches to the upper 
surfaces of leaves, twigs and fruit. This 
gum holds the dust that chances to fall 
upon the surfaces covered by it, and the 
mass generates a fungus growth termed 
back smut. This smut, although seeming 
to do no damage to the tree other than to 
render it unsightly, must retard its growth 
by obstructing the stomata or air-breath- 
ing surfaces of leaves and branches. It 
also renders the fruit unsalable, or nearly 
so. Neither scale nor smut should be tol- 
erated in an orchard. The whale-oil soap 
solution extirpates both. 

The Red Scale.— This is similar to the 



black scale, except that it is somewhat 
smaller and of a reddish color. It adheres 
only to the under side of leaves and to the 
fruit, and avoids the limbs and trunk. 
The red scale is more dangerous than the 
black and, if unmolested, will utterly de- 
stroy an orchard in a few years. For 
treatment see Appendix. 

The White* or Cottony Cushion 
Scale.— This approaches more nearly to a 
distinct animal than either of the other 
scales and is the most dangerous of the 
three. For full description and manner 
of treatment see Appendix. 

Gum Disease. — Lemon trees especially 
and orange trees occasionally, are subject 
to gum disease, an affection of the bark 
close to the ground. This is caused by in- 
judiciuos irrigation. The bark splits and 
a gum exudes. If unchecked, the disease 
encircles the tree and kills it. The best 
treatment upon discovering the first symp- 
toms of gum disease is to cut away the 
affected part and daub the wound with 
paint, wax or tar. In irrigating thereafter 
do not allow the water to touch the body 
of the tree and be sure that the soil is well 
stirred after each irrigation. 

"Die Back" and many of the other mal- 
adies to which the orange trees of Florida 
and some other lands are subject are 
wholly unknown in this country. 

*NoTE.— Injurious Insects of the Orchard, Vine- 
yard, etc., by Matthew Cooke, late Chief Executive 
Horticultural Officer of California. Sacramento: 
H. S. Crocker & Co. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

WASHING TREES. 



The YouNa Orchard. — When the 
young trees are planted in orchard it is a 
good plan to give them a thorough wash- 
ing. Whatever of extraneous growth, 
either scale or smut, may be upon them 
is thus cleared off, and the trees are given 
a clean start in life, which is as valuable 
to them as to a man. 

Preventive as Well as Cure.— If 
the plan is followed of giving the trees a 
washing once or twice a year thereafter it 
will greatly promote their vigor and in- 
sure them against attack by the scale in^ 
sect. Witii these pests of the orange tre© 
the ounce «f prevention is a hundred 
times the easiest and best. 



Washing Sovereign and Imperative. 
—For older trees already infested with 
scale, washing is the only reliable reme- 
dy. When once cleaned, they too should 
receive periodical sjJrayings and scrub- 
bings. It might as well be accepted by 
the orange growers of California as an un- 
avoidable conclusion that orange trees, 
to be healthy, productive and long lived, 
must he washed. 

The Solution in common use for this 
purpose is made of whale-oil or some oth- 
er cheap and strong soap. For my use I 
have found the addition of a little con- 
centrated lye most efficacious. The 
strength of the solution needs to be varied 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOENIA. 



67 



to suit requirements. The strongest is 
needed in treating obstinate cases of scale. 
For simply washing trees to cleanse them, 
and as a measure of prevention I recom- 
mend the following : 

A Simple Wash.— Heat the water al- 
most to the boiling point and dissolve in 
it sufficient concentrated lye to make it 
slippery between the fingers. Then add 
whale-oil soap, a quarter pound to the 
gallon. The solution may be applied to 
the trees hot without danger of injuring 
them. 

STRONaER Solutions. — For stronger 
washes, and those of various kinds, such 
as tobacco mixture, coal oil emulsion, etc., 
see the recipes of Matthew Cooke in the 
Appendix to this work. 

Method of Application.— A broom or 
a scrubbing brush is serviceable for wash- 
ing the stock and main limbs of the tree. 
In treating the tops, the solution may be 
^'switched" in with a broom or brush or 
sprayed with a hand sprinkler. The 
switching process is available only with 
small trees when the tops are well thinned 
out. For those of larger growth a hand 
sprinkler, such as shown in the accom- 
panying illustration, is used: 




Fia, 1— THE SPRAYER. 



In treating an orchard of full grown 
seedlings, these apparatus are in turn, in- 
adequate, and to avoid tediousness, resort 
must be had to a force pump like that 
shown in Fig. 2. 




Fia. 2— THE FORCE PUMP. 

The Sprayer.— Fig. 1 illustrates a hand 
sprayer -with the nozzle attached to the 
piston: The bucket containing the solu- 
tion is placed on the ground and the ap- 
paratus worked with both hands. This 
will throw a rose-spray to the heighth of 
twelve or fifteen feet, or a solid stream 
twenty feet. 

The pump shown in Fig 2 is known as 
the Excelsior No. 1. It is generally 
mounted on a barrel containing the solu- 
tion, and the whole apparatus is hauled 
about the orchard in a wagon. The ad- 
vantage of this pump is that, being dou- 
ble acting, it throws a continuous stream. 
Double hose may be attached, thus giving 
two streams simultaneously. The wash 
is applied through a three-quarter inch 
hose twelve or fifteen feet long with a noz- 
zle of ordinary iron pipe eight or ten feet 
long, which can be pushed well into the 
top of the tree by the operator. The 
spray is formed by closing the end of the 
pipe excepting only a thin slit. Four men 
make up the spraying party:— one to 
drive the team, one to work the pump and 
two to hold the nozzles. With this force 
at work an orchard is soon gone over. 



CHAPTER XX. 

WORKING, WATCHING AND WAITING. 

*' But the waiting time, my brothers, Is the hardest preceding chapter, the orange tree loses a 
time of all." year's growth in trans-planting. Under 

A Year or Two Lost.— As stated in a the most favorable circumstances it is not 



68 



THE ORANGE; 



until the second year in orchard that the 
tree regains its normal vigor. If in the 
meantime any special causes have inter- 
vened to set it back, such as the loss or 
partial loss of its leaves by grasshoppers, 
or the gnawing of its roots or stock by 
vermin, or injury by frost — any or all of 
which are liable to occur — the tree may 
not get a good start before the beginning 
of the third year after planting. If it do 
not show itself in a thrifty growing con- 
dition by that time, better dig it up and 
throw it away. I would not wait that 
long with a tree that gave earlier evidences 
of being stunted. 

When Budded Trees Yield.— But if 
good budded trees are planted and thrive 
well from the start, the third year in or- 
chard they ought to yield a little fruit, by 
way of sample. The fourth year they 
will produce more, but not enough to 
bring much revenue. At the end of the 
fifth year there should be quite a fine crop. 
If the trees have been retarded in any 
way the fruiting may be a year later. 
Accordingly, the man who plants an or- 
chard of budded oranges, must expect to 
wait from five to six years for his first 
substantial proceeds. 

When Seedlings Yield.— With seed- 
ling trees one must wait nine or ten years. 

A Long Wait. — Five years is a long 
time; ten years a great deal longer. If a 
man is possessed of a plethoric purse he 
can abide the issue with equanimity; but 
for one who is dependant for a living up- 
on his own energies this hiatus is a most 
serious matter. It is a matter which one 
should weigh well and provide against 
before embarking in the enterprise. Not 
only must the family have a living, but 
there is a continual demand for the ex- 
pendikire of money or its equivalent — 
energy— in caring for the orchard. 

Tiding Over. — Many and divers ways 
are resorted to by men of limited re- 
sources to tide over this period of waiting. 
The mechanic finds work at his trade for 
a part of each year ; the teacher returns to 
teaching, and the professional man to his 
practice. If the previous vacation was 
that of a farmer the orchardist can gener- 
ally find work to do near at home in car- 
ing for the places of others or in general 
farm labor. Some may be able to pay 



their way as they go from their own* 
places. Such are to be envied most of all. 
It often happens, however, that the fruit 
farm par excellence is not well adapted to 
raising general produce. This is the case 
with many of the mesa locations. 

Helps.— But with all farms established 
on a right basis there are helps to the liv- 
ing which prove most valuable at this pe- 
riod. The cow is one of these adjuncts ; 
chickens another ; the vegetable garden 
a third. If a man is provident he can 
have his patch of alfalfa and his fodder 
growing in odd strips and corners of the 
place, thereby providing, without any 
outlay of cash, enough feed for his cow 
and some to help along with the support 
of the other animals. Chickens, as an 
auxiliary, under the charge of the gentle 
and painstaking housewife, are not to be 
despised ; but I warn the novice against 
placing too much dependence on the 
chicken business as a principal means of 
livelihood. Heretofore some people, prin- 
cipally dealers in fancy stock, have in- 
dulged in a good deal of hyperbole re- 
garding the profits of the poultry yard, 
and some other people have believed 
them and have been badly disappointed. 

Economy Wins.— The thrifty man, aid- 
ed by his helpmeet, can devise many 
ways to cut down expenses and produce a 
little revenue pending the issue of the 
main horticultural venture; and those who 
address themselves earnestly to the task, 
and keep clear of debt, generally work 
through and find themselves on the com- 
fortable side of independence in a few 
years. 

Diversified Planting. — Most people 
who improve small places diversify their 
planting, i. e. set a portion of the farm in 
deciduous fruits and a portion in grape- 
vines ; and some devote consideroble space 
to small fruits. These come into bearing 
at two to four years and shorten the un- 
productive period correspondingly. 

Advisable Crops. — In this connection 
it would be proper to discuss the products 
that may be grown in the spaces between 
the rows of young fruit trees, for the man 
who struggles to make ends meet almost 
invariably feels the necessity of utilizing 
this ground Corn and sugar cane for 
domestic use or for fodder, potatoes, beets, 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA. 



69 



turnips — any of the leguminous crops- 
may be grown without detriment to the 
trees. But I would advise the planting of 
not more than two rows in the space be- 
tween rows of trees. These crops should 
not come nearer than six or eight feet 
from the trees. 

Nursery stock and small fruits may be 
planted in the orchard if the same rule of 
not overcrowding is observed. 

Crops not Advisable.— All grain crops 
— any crops, in fact, that preclude cultiva- 
tion — should be avoided as they involve 
great injury or total destruction of the 
trees. Watermelons and pumpkins are 
undesirable since they coyer much of the 
ground to the exclusion of the cultivator, 
and their roots ramify to great distances, 
frequently drawing moisture directly 
from the roots of the trees. 

Citrus and Deciduous Trees.— Some 
people adopt the plan of planting decidu- 
ous trees of early bearing habits — like the 
peach— in alternate rows between their 
orange trees. To this end the orchard is 
often planted close together with the in- 
tention of ultimately cutting away the 
deciduous trees when the oranges come 
into bearing. My experience with this 



method has not led me to favor it. In the 
first place consulting appearances, I do 
not like the intermixture of the two kinds 
of trees— citrus and deciduous. Secondly, 
trees of dififerent habits need to be treated 
diflferently in irrigation, and it is generally 
an awkward matter to irrigate part of the 
trees in an orchard without watering all. 
Thirdly, peach and some other deciduous 
trees come into bearing before the or- 
anges, it is true, but the fact also remains 
that they are still vigorous trees when the 
oranges begin to produce. In Southern 
California the peach tree has been known 
to live fifty years. The oranges will need 
all of the space in the orchard when the 
deciduous trees are still in their very 
prime. It is hard for one to sacrifice the 
result of years of toil, and hence too often 
the deciduous trees are left and the or- 
anges suffer — all of the trees suffer from 
crowding. 

An Orange Grove Pure and Simple. 
— If the orange grower is master of the 
situation, so that he does not need to raise 
anything in his orchard but the orange 
trees themselves, and can keep the whole 
surface well pulverized and free from ex- 
traneous growth — that is, after all, the 
best plan. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE ORANGE TREE IN BEARING. 



Extra Care. — The orange tree when it 
begins to bear requires extra attention. 
Not only should the cultivation be most 
thorough, but, beginning with the time 
when the fruit first forms, there must be 
more irrigation than formerly, and every 
means must be adopted to keep the tree 
up to full vigor as it assumes its new pro- 
ductive function. 

Tendency to Overbear. — The natural 
tendency of the tree is to overbear; i, e., 
to form more fruit than it can properly 
mature, or at least so much that, if ma- 
tured, its own vitality suffers thereby. 

Thinning the Fruit.— For this reason 
it is imperative that the fruit first formed 
be thinned out with no sparing hand. If 
two-thirds or three-quarters of the sets 
are pulled off when they are the size of a 
hazelnut, it will be the better for the tree. 



How many oranges a tree should be al- 
lowed to bear the first season it would be 
impossible to say, as so much depends 
upon the size and strength of the tree, but 
I would place the safe limit somewhere 
between three and twenty. Aim to keep 
within rather than to pass the limit by a 
single orange, and the future well-being 
of the tree will reward you therefor. 
When a tree overbears at first it is gener- 
ally stunted, and in such case the original 
yield may be its best for a number of 
years. In some instances the tree never 
produces so good fruit afterwards. The 
second season more liberty may be al- 
lowed in the matter of production, but 
both tree and owner must still practice 
self denial to a degree. 

After Production.— The second year 
of bearing a budded tree may be allowed 



70 



THE OEANGE; 



to produce from twenty-five to fifty or- 
anges, the third year two hundred, and 
thus increasing proportionately until m 
full bearing. 

Fruit Thinning Afterwards Desir- 
able. — The careful grower will not over- 
look the thinning of his fruit at any age 
of the tree. Thus only is the finest qual- 
ity and a good uniformity of fruit to be 
obtained. As the trees become large the 
task of thinning increases to laborious 
proportions, but that is no reason why it 
should be overlooked. No greater over- 
sight is to be charged to our orange grow- 
ers generally than in their neglect to re- 
press the over-productive tendency of 
their trees. 

A Short Cut in Thinning.— An expe- 
ditious way of thinning the fruit adopted 
by some growers is to prune their trees 
quite heavily in June or in one of the fall 
months when in a dormant stage. This 
finds the fruit newly set or half formed, 
and a fair proportion of it is removed with 
the severed limbs. I believe this to be an 
excellent plan, "killing two birds with 
one stone," and both of them pretty good 
birds. 



Props.— If the high system of prunning 
has been observed, the fruit will be borne 
near the extremities of long slender 
branches, and it is generally necessary to 
sustain these branches with props from the 
time the oranges are half grown until ma- 
tured and gathered. Poles with forked 
ends are in general use for this purpose. 
If props are not used, the limbs often 
break with their weight of fruit and thus 
the grower suffers loss both in crop and 
tree. 

Productive Capacity of Seedling.— 
A seedling tree at Riverside bore at nine 
years of age sixty oranges ; the next year 
five hundred, and the next two thousand, 
when it was accounted at fullest produc- 
tiveness. Not all seedling trees even 
when vigorous and healthful in every 
way can do as well as this or ought, in 
fact, to be allowed to produce so heavily. 

Yield of Budded Fruit Less.— Semi- 
drawf budded varieties will never give so 
large a yield, tree for tree, as seedlings ; 
but the difference is made up by the ear- 
liness of bearing, the extra number of 
trees to the acre, and the superior quality 
of the fruit. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



PICKING, PACKING AND SHIPPING. 



Picking too Early.— The most ad- 
vanced of the orange fruit, having at- 
tained about three-fourths of its normal 
size, begins to assume a yellowish color in 
December and January. Some growers, 
desirous of obtaining the good prices 
which prevail at the opening of the mar- 
ket, pick such oranges as appear ripe in 
January and February. When they do 
this they make a mistake. The juices are 
not at that time properly developed and 
ripened, and the fruit is sour and really 
unfit to eat. The short-sighted people 
who sell such trash do not stop to consider 
that for a mere temporary gain they are 
ruining the reputation of their fruit, and 
that for every dollar thus made they must 
ultimately lose two. The man who eats 
one of these sour oranges will surely 
think less and eat less of the fruit the rest 



of the season— perhaps for the rest of his 
natural life. 

The Time of Ripening. — Oranges be- 
gin to attain their best flavor in Februaryj 
and that is the time when the market 
should be opened. The fruit on the outer 
branches most exposed to the sun ripens 
first and is the best. That growing on the 
inside of the tree, besides being slower in 
maturing, does not color so highly and is 
inferior in flavor. 

Long Preservation.— The orange, un- 
like most other fruits, does not begin to 
deteriorate directly after ripening, and 
then drop from its stem. It will hold its 
juices in perfect preservation from March 
until June, after which it suffers gradual 
loss, but remains palatable until August 
or September. All this time it maintains 
its place on the tree, unless subjected to 



ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA. 



71 



some accident, such as the pricking of a 
thorn or a violent shaking by the wind or 
other disturbing element. 

A Year on the Tree. — It is not an 
unusual thing to find oranges hanging 
upon the tree a full year after maturity 
and when the next succeeding crop is 
ripe. Such old fruit, although in out- 
ward appearance as sound and handsome 
as ever, is found when picked to be soft, 
and when opened, to contain only a juice- 
less pith. 

Oranges Should Not Be Left Too 
Long. — It is a bad plan to leave oranges 
unpicked later than March and April, at 
which time the tree puts forth its blos- 
soms for the next crop. A moment's 
reasoning will show that the old fruit, in 
the effort to maintain itself, must absorb 
no slight quantity of the juices of the 
tree, and this to the detriment of the 
forthcoming crop. Thus the young or- 
anges are robbed of their proper aliment, 
while the old grow no better, and nothing 
but loss results. 

The Proper Season— For picking or- 
anges is then from February to April. In 
the earlier part of this season I would ad- 
vise a nice discrimination, in order that 
only the fully ripe fruit be taken. Al- 
though the color may be substanstially 
the same, a practiced eye and hand can 
easily detect the difference between the 
ripe and the unripe. In the latter part of 
the season the picker may gather the fruit 
clean from the tree as he goes. 

The Best Picker.— Although a num- 
ber of machines and devices have been in- 
vented for picking, I know of no better im- 
plement than the human hand. The man 
or woman who supplies the hand and the 
motive power therefor may stand on the 
ground when the tree is small, otherwise 
on a step-ladder. The picker twists the 
fruit a little to one side, and with a quick 
double jerk breaks the stem close up. It 
does not answer to pluck the orange with 
straight outward pull, as in that case a 
small patch of skin adhering to the stem 
is often taken out, thus ruining the orange 
for market. 

Must Not Be Bruised.— In no case 
should the oranges be dropped to the 
ground or thrown even a few feet to their 



receptacle. The picker generally carries 
a sack slung to his shoulder. 

Gather When Dry.— Oranges should 
not be gathered in wet weather or when 
there is dew on the trees, the dampness 
being unfavorable to the keeping quali- 
ties of the fruit. 

When the picker's sack is full he de- 
posits the contents in a pile beneath the 
tree, or in a box or barrel, thence to be 
hauled to the packing house. 

Too Hasty Packing. — It has been al- 
most a universal custom with our growers 
to sort and pack the fruit immediately 
after picking, and ship at once. I pass 
over without just reprobation the careless 
manner in which this work has usually 
been done. The result in demoralized 
markets and short returns has been 
shown and commented on elsewhere. 
For present purposes it is sufficient for 
me to point out the better way. Those 
who are joined to their idols and will not 
learn from experience are not likely to be 
admonished by a scolding. 

Curing.— Although we have totally ig^ 
nored the plan practiced in other countries 
of curing or seasoning our oranges before 
packing, and have succeeded fairly in 
making our fruit keep without it, I still 
think that the coming packer will adopt 
this system . When carried to the packing 
house the oranges should be spread upon 
shelves or racks not more than two or 
three layers deep, all haying glaring de- 
fects being at that time rejected. The 
fruit is thus left from two to five days, 
during which a portion of the water is 
evaporated from the skin, leaving it more 
tough and elastic and not so susceptible to 
damage by bruising as in the fresh state. 
Slight blemishes not readily discoverable 
at first are likely to develop by this time, 
and the defective fruit may then be thrown 
out. 

Sorting.— I would advise every packer 
to have two grades of fruit. Let him 
make the first grade as uniform in size 
and color as possible, and first class in 
every respect. In sorting for this he 
should reject 

1— All fruit affected by rot. 

2— All fruit pricked by thorns. 

3— Ail fruit with skin torn or abraded. 

4 — All fruit that is unripe. 



72 



THE OEANGE; 



5— All fruit that is under-colored. 

6— All fruit that is too large. 

7— All fruit that is too small. 

For the second class he may put in all 
fruit rejected from the first that is sound 
and ripe, irrespectiye of size and color. 

Cleaning.— If the fruit is disfigured by 
smut, this should be removed with a 
brush before packing. 

The Grader. — An apparatus which 
greatly facilitates the assorting of oranges 
is known as the grader, an illustration of 
^vhic•h appears herewith: 




are in use: One, known as the California 
box, is 8 inches wide, 19 inches high and 
IV/2 inches long. The ends are a little 
less than an inch thick and the sides and 
bottom haK an inch. There are two boards 
on each side, between which cracks of 
half an inch to an inch are left for venti- 
lation. 

Another, called the Eastern box, is 13 
inches wide, 13 inches high and 26 inches 
long, outside measurement. It is com- 
posed of the same material as the other 
box, but is divided into two compart- 
ments, each of which measures 
a cubic foot in the clear. Cracks 
are also left for ventilation. The 
Easternbox is now mostfa vored. 



THE GRADER. 

There is no standard orange grader. 
The grader in use at Riverside consists of 
a stand 38 inches by feet in surface di- 
mensions. It is inclined from one end to 
the other, the higher end standing 36 
inches from the ground and the lower IS 
inches. At the upper end there is a table 
inclined somewhat, but not so much as 
the rest of the apparatus; dimensions 38x33 
inches. Below this there are two series of 
slats running lengthwise, each 40 inches 
long. These slats perform the office of a 
riddle for the oranges in process of sort- 
ing. The slats in the upper series are 2K 
inches apart, and those in the lower series 
3 inches apart. The fruit is first placed 
upon the table and then allowed to roll 
down the incline. The smallest fruit drops 
between the slats of the first series. The 
rest run over these slats and the next in 
size fall between those of the second series. 
The oranges that are too large for the last 
slats (i. e., more than three inches in dia- 
meterj run off the end of the table. Thus 
three grades are accomplished. Beneatli 
each of the riddles is fastend a burlap, 
bagging to the middle, where there is a 
hole allowing the oranges to roll into the 
receptacle provided for them. By this ap- 
pliance the work of grading is accom- 
plished very quickly and accurately. 

Packing Boxes.— Two kinds of boxes 



Wrapping. — Our more pro- 
gressive packers are adopting 
the plan of wrapping each or- 
ange in paper as it is placed in 
the box. This involves a good 
deal of labor and some expense, 
but it also offers these advantages: 

1. It is a protection to the fruit against 
bruising while in transit. 

2. It absorbs surplus moisture, thereby 
preventing rot. 

3. It places the fruit in the market in a 
tasty manner and conveys the impression 
that the packer at least had a good appre- 
ciation of it. 

4. If the wrappers are printed, it becomes 
a means of advertising the producer 
or packer and the variety of the fruit. 
The buyer who likes the oranges will look 
for that wrapper the next time he buys. 

Number of Orangs to the Box.— With 
the cases above described oranges run 
from 100 to 250 to the box. The liappy 
medium is 150;— this for seedlings or av- 
erage sized budded fruit. Like the Navel or 
Mediterranean Sweet. Small fruit like 
the St. Michael will go 200 to the box on a 
good average. 

Numbering the Contents.— The or- 
anges are counted as they are packed and 
the number each box contains marked on 
one end. 

Boxes well Filled.— The boxes should 
be filled so that when the lid is put on it 
will press the fruit down sufficiently to 
prevent it from shaking about in hand- 
ling. 

Cost of Picking and Packing.— The 



ITS CULTUBE IN CALIFORNIA. 



73 



Riverside Fruit Company gives the cost 
per box as follows : 

Gathering |0.05 

Packing, including wrapping 30 

Box 15 

Total $0.50 

Shipping.— As soon as possible after 
packing the boxes should be shipped. 

Markets.— Up to the time the Southern 
Pacific railroad was completed, giving di- 
rect rail communication with the East, 
our only market for large quantities of 
citrus fruits was San Francisco. Hand- 
ling our products from the early times, 
when the fruit had not been brought to a 
high standard , and when the packing was 
uniformly bad, the San Francisco mer- 
chants got into a way of slaughtering it, 
and the growers of Southern California 
were at their mercy. Now that our peo- 
ple are making an efiort to establish a bet- 
ter order of things', they find their past bad 
record and the settled habits of the San 
Franciscans against them. The metrop- 
olis of the State is therefore quite general- 
ly voted an uncertain market. This has 
induced producers and jobbers within the 
past two or three years to look eastward 
for the disposal of their fruits. Arizona 
and New Mexico are our natural fields of 
consumption and these have been fully 
supplied. Markets have been opened 
also in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, 

nicago, Minneapolis, and some ship- 
ments have been made as far as the At- 
lantic seaboard. Not all of these ship- 
ments have proven satisfactory. This 
fact is not to be wondered at when we 
consider that many of the shipments 
were pioneer efforts. Some of the ven- 
tures, however, were highly satisfactory. 
A Riverside shipper cites his experience 
as follows: 

" My oranges sold in San Francisco last 
season (1884) from |2 to §4 per box. At 
about the same time in Denver the same 
class of my seedling oranges (165 to the 
box) sold for f 7.83. Another gentleman 
who shipped to Denver with me received 
for his very choice Riverside Navels, 



$8.22 per box of 137. It costs about |4.20 
to pay freight and commission on a box 
of Riverside lemons sold in Denver and 
$3.50 on a [box of oranges. The cost of 
shipment to San Francisco and commis- 
sion is 75 cents per box. This makes tho 
Denver market nearly $2 per box better 
than San Francisco." 

Freights.— The high freights of , the 
Southern Pacific railroad* have been the 
chief impediment to eartern shipments. 
Some concessions were made by this com- 
pany during the past year, but the tariff 
is still too high. It is to be hoped that the 
advent of a competing railroad, wkich we 
have in the Atlantic and Pacific,now estab- 
lishing termini on this coast, will put 
quite a different face on the matter; — tha 
we shall soon have cheap access to all 
available Eastern markets. One thing is 
certain: San Francisco cannot be relied 
on to furnish an outlet for our vast citrus 
productions, and [the sooner our people 
establish their own commercial relations 
with consuming markets the larger their 
returns. 

Avoiding the Trouble op Picking, 
Packing and Shipping.— Of late years, 
jobbing firms of wealth and experience 
have come to the fore as purchasers of 
our citrus fruits, and the most common 
practice among producers is to sell their 
crops on the trees. They are thus relieved 
of all trouble and responsibility in the 
premises, and realize more satisfactorily 
than though they undertook the work 
themselves. The jobbers, well versed in 
the modus operandi of packing, shipping 
and supplying the various markets, can 
handle the fruit to much better advantage 
than individual producers. 

*N0TE.— The railroad company reduced the rate 
on oranges last year (1884) to all points east of the 
Missouri river f rona $350 to $250 per carload ; to 
Tucson and Benson, A. T., to $225 per carload; to 
Kansas City $200 per carload. The through rates 
two years ago were as high as $600 per car. The 
difference in favor of orange growers is very large, 
being over $1 per box. This traffic is only in its 
inception. Each yew? it will increase, and with the 
increase no doubt further reductions will occur. 



74 



THE OEANGE; 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

REJUVENATING OLD TREES— BUDDING OLD TREES, 



When old orange trees become sickly 
and practically useless by reason of ex- 
haiasted vitality or insect pests they may 
be restored by adopting the follo^vlng 
course; Denude the tree of leaves alto- 
gether, cutting away all of the top except 
the leading branches. Wash these branch- 
es and the trunk thoroughly with an in- 
secticide and wrap the trunk in burlap to 
protect it from the sun. Manure the 
ground about the tree, and irrigate thor- 
oughly. The tree will send out a multi- 
tude of new shoots, which should be 
thinned out judiciously. In one year the 
tree will have a fine top and in two years 
will begin again. In this way diseased 
trees may generally be entirely reclaimed. 

BuDDiNa Old Orange Orchakds,— 
The question of converting old seedling 
orange trees into budded trees is attract- 
ing attention on account of the high price 
of the Riverside Navel as compared with 
the seedling fruit. A letter was recently 
written to Mr. Alex. Craw, foreman of the 
Wolfskin orchards in Los Angeles, for 
information relative to the budding re- 
cently done on the large trees in that or- 
chard, and the following reply was had, 
which was published in the Riverside 
Ppess and Horticulturist: 

TwoGOOD & Edwards— GeniZemew.*— 
Yours of the 20th inst. is received, and in 
reply to your question relative to budding 
large seedling orange trees I will give you 
the particulars of how the trees were 
treated that you refer to. 

" Orange budders know the difElculty of 



getting a bud to take in the old wood of 
large trees. Knowing this, and wishing 
to have the buds start nearer the center of 
the trees, I sawed off one or two of the 
leaders or center branches in the spring 
and left the side branches to fruit the next 
season. The branches so cutoff should be 
painted with rubber paint. They will 
produce a number of young shoots. These 
should be thinned out to two or three, so 
as to shape the tree, and the remaining 
ones should be budded in the fall, and left 
as dormant buds; or they may be budded 
the next spring. After the fruit is all 
picked from the side branches, cut all up- 
right branches back one-half, as otherwise 
the tendency would be to draw too much 
vigor from the buds. In this way you 
can have some fruit each year until the 
buds come in and commence bearings 
Next season you will have a fine top and 
can cut away all lower branches of the 
seedling stock. Then wrap the trunk of 
the tree and the exposed limbs with cy- 
press branches or buUrushes to prevent 
them from from becoming sunburnt. 

" In this way Mr. Wolfskill has had ripe 
fruit on trees twenty months from the 
bud, and has made large healthy trees 
besides." 

Mr. Craw is one of the most experienced 
orchardists in Southern California, especi- 
ally in the management of the orange and 
lemon. He has recently converted a large 
orchard of seedling orange trees to budded 
fruit in a most skillful manner, and the 
modus operandiiB^iYQu above very briefly. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ANALYSES OF RIVERSIDE ORANGES AND LEMONS. 



The following is the University Experi- 
ment Station Bulletin No. 39, on analyses 
of the orange : 

The samples of Riverside citrus fruits 
shown at the Citrus Fair March, 1885, with 
the exception of those marked a and h 
were received through the hands of Mr. 
Chas. H. Dwindle, on his return from the 



fair. All were in excellent condition and 
were worked during the days following 
April 3d, the day of receipt. 

The samples marked a and h formed 
part of a collection received some time af- 
terwards, through the courtesy of Mr. J . 
E. Cutter, W. H. Backus, J. H. North and 
other exhibtors, of Riverside. They were 



ITS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



75 



kept on shelves in a room until May 15th, 
when the Navel had lost some of its orig- 
inal firmness and the Malta Blood was be- 
gining to show shrinkage from drying. 

These samples had therefore been keep 
six weeks.longer than the others, but were 
in good condition. Four of the Navels still 
on hand at this date— May 22d— though 
soft to the touch are perfectly sound. 

The data given in the table below ex- 
plains themselves. Column No. 1 gives th^ 
average weight, in drams, of the fruit ex- 
amined, usualy two in number; a division 
by 30 gives this weight in ounces avoirdu- 
pois. Column 2, 3 and 4 give the percent- 
age of rind, pulp and seed respectively. 

It will be noted that the Navel and Malta 
Blood oranges and Eureka lemon were 



found seedless, the largest proportion 
of seeds being found in the St. Michaels' 
orange. Column 5 gives the per cent of 
juice in cubic centimeters, referred to the 
weight of the fruit in grams; and since 
the density of the juice is somewhat above 
that of water, this percentage, if taken 
by^weight, would be a little higher than 
here given; but for the practical compari- 
son the figures hold good. Column 6 gives 
the actual amount of juice obtained per 
single fruit, again in cubic centimeters, 
which, by division by the number 30 may 
be reduced to fluid ounces. Column 7 and 
8 give the percentage in the juice of cane 
sugar (sucrose) and fruit sugar (levulose), 
the sum of sugars being shown in column 
9. Column 10, finally, gives the percent- 
age of acid calculated as citric acid. 



ANALYSES OF CITRUS FRUITS. 



NAME. 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 1 8 


9 


1 


Average Weight 
in Grams 


Rind. Per cent. 


Pulp. Per cent. 


OQ 

CO 

a> 

Oj 

02 

>r3 

a> 

a 
a> 

J* 


Juice. Percent. 


Average Amount 
of Juice. c. 


SUGABS. 


Total Sugar. Per 


Acid. Per cent. 


Cane. Per 
cent 


Fruit. Per 
cent 


ORANGES. 


288.0 
283.7 


33.5 
30.0 


65.6 
70.0 


0.9 






4.47 
5.04 
4.47 
4.09 
3.92 
4.01 


1.67 
2.10 
1.96 
1.68 
1.81 
1.55 


6.14 
7.14 
6.43 
5,77 
7.73 
5.56 


1.10 
.92 
.86 
1.01 
1.52 
1.34 

6.79 
7.21 
6.86 




41.42 


117.5 






i. Paper Rind St. Michael. . . . 


158.0 
139.0 


17.3 
26.8 


80.1 
73.2 


2.6 


52.58 
48.55 


82.7 
67.5 






LEMONS. 


115.2 
157.0 
53.5 


35.7 
22.4 
15.9 


63.9 
77.6 
83.4 


0.4 


43.40 
45.22 
56.53 


50.0 
71.0 
30.3 












0.7 















1. Mediterranean Sweet orange, from W. H, Back- 
us. 

2. Riverside Navel orange, from John G. North. 
Taken from a plate of five oranges which received 
the first prize for the best budded orange and best 
orange on exhibition. 

3. Riverside (or Australian?) Navel orange, from 
J. E. Cutter. 



4. Paper Rind St. Michael orange, from W. H. 
Backus. 

5. Malta Blood orange, grower not mentioned. 

6. Same, grov. er not known. 

7. Lisbon Lemon, from E. W. Holmes. 

8. Eureka lemon, from same. 

9. Limes, from W. H, Backus, 



These analyses show some interesting 
and important points of difference between 
the several fruits. The Navel shows the 
highest total sugar and lowest acid of all; 
and this is true equally of the earlier and 
later samples, a and &. The Mediterranean 
Sweet stands next in sugar percentage; its 
acid is a little higher than that of the St. 
Micheals in absolute percentage, but the 
proportion between sugar and acid is prac- 
tically identical in the two, the juice of the 



St Michaels being a little weaker in both 
substances. The Malta Blood is a little 
lower in sugar then the St. Michaels, but 
exceeds it in acid by 50 per cent in the ear- 
lier sample. 

It thus would seem that, apart from its 
inviting outward appearance, the River- 
side Navel owes its place in public favor to 
three chief points: A high degree of sweet- 
ness, with a low degree of acid, and the 
firmness of fiesh which invites it to be actu- 



76 



THE OBANGE, 



ally eaten instead of "sucked" as one is 
tempted to do with the other softer or- 
anges. 

The Mediterranean Sweet and the St. 
Michael dispute precedence, according as 
indivdual tastes differ in respect to size 
and flavor; but the St. Michael seems to 
have a greater firmness of flesh in its fav- 
or. The refreshing acidity and peculiar 
flavor of the Blood orange place it in a dif- 
ferent category from the other three. 

The first six columns, however, furnish 
food for additional consideration, especial- 
ly when oranges are sold by the piece or 
thousand and not by we^ht. The Medi- 
terranean Sweet shows a slightly heavier 
weight then the Navel, but the larger pro- 
portion of pulp in the latter more then 
makes up for tlie difference. Owing to an 
accident, the proportion of juice to pulp 
was not determined in the case of the 
Mediterranean Sweet; in the Navel the 
figures show it to have been about 59 
per cent, whereas in the St. Micheals it 
goes as high as 65.6, in the Malta to 66.3 
per cent. The latter two are, therefore, 
quite materially more juicy than the Navel, 
hence more delicate in transportation. 

The St. Michaels show the highest per- 
centage of pulp of all, notwithstanding the 
relative abundance of seed; and hence a 
given weight of this variety would furnish 
the largest amount of eatable pulp,while if 
bought per thousand, the light weight of 
the fruit would leave the consumer mate- 
rially "short" as compared with the Navel 
or Mediterranean Sweet. Comparing the 
earlier fruit with that analysed six weeks 
later, there is in the case of both the Nav- 
el and St. Micheal a decided decrease of 
both sugar and acid ; exactly the reverse 
of what would have been looked for, as 
these ingredients might have been sup- 
posed to be concentrated by evaporation. 
There is therefore a true deterioration in 
oranges kept beyond the point of proper 
ripeness, that amply justifies the preference 
of consumers for the freshest fruit. 

As regards the lemons, the comparison 
between the Lisbon and Eureka tells 
strongly in favor of the latter. It is larger 
and has a higher percentage of pulp as 
well as juice, while at the same time the 
latter is considerably richer in citric 



acid. Assuming 7 per cent as the Usual 
average, it will be noted that the Eureka 
is nearly as much above it as the Lisbon 
is below. The limes stand nearly at the 
same point as the Lisbon, but show a con- 
siderable higher proportion of pulp as 
well as of juice then either of the two 
lemons, being fully 13 per cent above the 
Lisbon in the latter respect. 

While these comparisons will probably 
hold good in general as between these 
varieties, the absolute figures (percentages) 
must be taken with allowance for the pe- 
culiarity of the season of 1884, with its un- 
usual rains and low temperature. A ref- 
erence to the analy'Sis made in 1879 (see 
the report of the College of Agriculture for 
that year, pp. 59 and 60) shows a much 
higher average of both sugar and acid for 
the oranges and of acid for the lemons; 
the proportion of pulp also seems to haye 
been higher throughout. 

E. W. HlLGARD. 

Berkeley, May 22, 1885. 



ANALYSIS OF THE ORANGE. 

Composition of the ashes of the fruit: 
Mineral 

Manure Compost. 
Constituents, Per cent. Per cent. 

Potash 20.15 15.28 

Soda 10.22 12.14 

Lime 30.12 30.24 

Magnesia 9.02 8.10 

Phosphoric acid 20.04 18.24 

Sulphuric acid 1.08 4.14 

Silicic acid 4.50 5.82 

Oxide of iron 4.25 4.75 

Loss 0.62 1.29 

100.00 100.00 
Ashes of the fruit 3.57 3.48 

Composition of the trunk, branches and 



leaves : 





Trunks and 






Branches 


Leaves, 




Per cent. 


Per cent, 




14.15 


10.18 




10.67 


10.82 




31.57 


41.22 




10.64 


6.53 




, , , 18.82 


19.47 




4.89 


4.53 




2.82 


5.48 




6.44 


1.77 




100.00 


100.00 






1.60 


Ashes of the leaves .... 


6.32 


6.20 



The orange trees above analyzed were 
from Alcira, (Valencia), Spain. 





Is 




Part III. 

LEMONS, LIMES AND CITRONS, 



CHAPTER L 



LEIV 

Lemon culture in California has not 
kept pace with orange culture. For this 
two reasons are assignable: 

1st. The territory adapted to the grow- 
ing of lemons is much restricted. 

2d. The lemons mostly grown Iiave 
been inferior, and the demand and com- 
pensation correspondingly small. 

These obstacles are by no means insur- 
mountable. Now that the suitable condi- 
tions for the lemon tree have been well 
defined by experience, the fact is evident 
that there are many locations — a large 
acreage — where the lemon may be suc- 
cessfully grown. As to the quality of the 
fruit, that may be improved just as all 
other fruits are improved — by the selec- 
tion of fine varieties and their perpetua- 
tion by budding. Given a locality well 
suited to the requirements of the tree and 
a selected variety, and I challenge the 
citrus growing world to produce a finer 
lemon than we can grow in Southern Cal- 
ifornia. Until five or six years ago no 
elforts were made to introduce fine varie- 
ties of this fruit. The kind universally 
grown was a Seedling from the Sicily 
lemon, and indeed at the present time 
these constitute the great bulk of the lem- 
ons on our market. This Seedling is a 
large, coarse-grained fruit, with a rind 
from a quarter to a half inch in thickness, 
a pulp inversely small, and the juice lack- 
ing in both quantity and qua],ity. Such a 
lemon is a palpable fraud upon the pur- 
chaser, as it does not perform the half 
that it promises by its exterior bulk. It 
is undesirable for the shipper and mer- 
chant because it is quite perishable. The 
pulpy rind when subjected to a slight 
bruise or to too close packing is speedily 
smitten with decay, and the fruit is often 
lost in transit. When we consider that 
these lemons have too often been picked 
and packed in the most bungling and 
shiftless manner; that the sweating pro- 
cess previous to shipment has been al- 



most wholly unknown or disregarded; 
that the fruit has reached the consignee 
many times in a rotten or semi-rotleii 
condition, and that when presented at its 
very best it is a third or fourth class arti- 
cle; when we consider all these points we 
need not wonder that our lemon trade is 
in the doldrums. 

The remedy for this condition of things 
is easy of accomjjlishmeni: Raise good 
fruit. Prepare and ship it properly. We 
ma3^ then sell all the lemons we raise and 
realize handsomely from this industry. 

The lemon tree, being more susceptible 
to frost than the orange, is not adapted to 
our middle and lower lands, except in well 
sheltered quailers. It thrives however 
on our mesas, at an altitude of one thou- 
sand to two thousand feet above sea level,, 
where frosts severe enough to damage it 
have never been known. There are thou- 
sands of aci'es of such land in S(nuhern 
California, some already improved in 
fruit farms and much still awaiting devel- 
opment. 

Discussing lemon culture in a paper 
read before the State Horticultural Socie- 
ty in 1883, Mr. L. M. Holt, one of our best 
authorities on citrus trees, has this to say: 

"The climate must be such that the ex- 
treme cold shall not be hard enough to kill 
the trees or injure the fruit, and it must 
be of such a character that the common 
scale and the fungus known as black dust 
shall not flourish. 

" When the mercury has been down tO" 
23° above zero, the orchardist will find his 
lime trees killed, his lemon trees badly 
frosted, and his smaller orange trees hurt, 
especially if his budded orange trees are 
on lemon, China lemon, or lime roots. 

" Cold weather produces a thick skin, a 
lack of juice, and in the case of the lemon 
a lack of acid. Climate, also, has much 
to do with the common scale and black 
dnst. They prevail mostly along the coast 
valleys, and increase from San Dieg© 



82 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITKON. 



northward, while the interior valleys are 
more generally free from the pests. San 
Diego is effected but slightly. The inte- 
rior valleys of Los Angeles county have 
less than the coast valleys, while San Ber- 
nardino county is entirely free from the 
black dust, and only occasionally has the 
scale. 

"All new countries experiment with 
fruits b^'^ planting the seed, raising the 
tree and fruiting it. If successful, the cul- 
ture is then commenced more systemati- 
cally. This course was pursued with the 
orange and. lemon. Seeds from the Sicily 
lemon were planted, and the fruit thereof 
was called the Sicily lemon. In this re- 
spect there is a wide difference between 
the orange and lemon, as the Seedling or- 
ange is a valuable fruit, while, as a rule, 
the Seedling lemon is worthless." 

Conceding the fact that the area of pos- 
sible production is much smaller for lem- 
ons than for oranges, and that the indus- 
try is less likelj' to be overdone than any 
other branch of citrus culture, it seems to 
me that lemon growing offers great in- 
ducements to the horticulturist who is 
rightly situated to engage in it. The char- 



acter of the lemon as a fruit is also quite 
different from that of the orange, the form- 
er being more of a staple. Lemon juice 
enters largely into manufactured pro- 
ducts — in citric acid and in cooking. The 
habit of the tree also in forming and ma- 
turing its fruit successively for several 
months of the year favors a long market. 
Under proper conditions the lemon tree 
is hardy, thrifty and a prolific bearer. It 
requires less water than the orange. These 
are all advantages worth considering. 

The imported lemon sells in the leading 
markets at from |8 to |10 per box, or from 
$24 to |30 per thousand; the California 
lemon commands from $2.50 to |3 per box, 
or from |10 to $15 per thousand. 

Why should not the California lemon, 
if raised to an equal standard witTi the im- 
ported fruit command an equal price? 

In 1881 the importation of lemons to the 
United States amounted to 860,241 boxes, 
or a total of 301,084,352 lemons. For the 
ten years preceding 1881 there had been 
an average increase of 54,271 boxes annu- 
ally. As long as this vast and increasing 
consumption continues, there must be a 
field for lemon growing. 



CHAPTER n. 

AN INVESTIGATION OF LEMONS AND LEMON CULTURE. 



At the Citrus Fair, held in Riverside in 
1883, a committee was appointed to make 
thorough scientific tests, for purposes of 
comparison of lomons grown in Califor- 
nia and of some samples of the imported 
fruit. The committee was also instructed 
to consider the status of lemon growing 
in California, and to report upon the best 
means for the promotion of the industry. 
The committee made a valuable report, a 
portion of which is subjoined: 

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE COM- 
MITTEE. 

To assist the growlers of citrus fruits in 
Southern California in supplying the in- 
creased demand for the lemon, and to 
place the crops grown by them properly 
before the consumers of the Pacific Coast, 
was the object of this examination. 

"That there is a very profitable field yet 
unoccupied by the growers of citrus fruits, 



is very clearly shown by the following 
statistics, gathered from the valuable re- 
port of J. H. Bostwick, upon the importa- 
tion of green fruits into the United States 
for 1881 and preceding years. 

" From this we find that in the years 1872 
and 1881 the inportations were as follows: 
No. Boxes. No. Lemons. 

1872 317,532 111,136,200 

1881 860,241 301,084,352 

"An increase in ten years of 542,709 
boxes and 189,948,152 lemons; an annual 
average increase of 54,271 boxes. 

" It is a notabe fact that while the impor- 
tation of the lemon has increased so rap- 
idly, that of the orange, during the same 
time, has increased only half as much from 
all sources, and it is reasonable to suppose 
that this increase in the importation of the 
orange will be entirely checked within ten 
years by the great productiveness of the 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITEON. 



83 



growers of Florida, Louisiana, and Cali- 
lornia. 

" The foreign lemon, always command- 
ing the highest price in the San Francisco 
market, was adopted by the committee as 
a standard of comparison for the lemons 
grown in Southern California. 

" Freshly imported specimens were se- 
cured from Messina, Malaga and Paler- 
mo, direct from Boston, through the lib- 
erality of Mr. H. B. Everest, and Messi- 
nas from Messrs. Dalton & Gray, of San 
Francisco, the latter having been picked 
some six months. All the specimens were 
in good condition. 

" The lemons of Southern California 
were from all the important fruit-growing 
districts of this section, and from the fact 
that they were picked about the same 
time and cured in the same manner, the 
collection was the best in its average ap- 
pearance and quality ever placed upon 
exhibition in the State. 

" The following table shows the result 
of the analyses: 















> 




CD 


B 




CD 


CD 
i-j 


B 






oun 




CD 
P 


O 
CD 
P 


O 
P 
P 




O 
















o 




o 


o 


O 












l-*5 




VARIETY. 


1 






c' 


Ce 

o_ 


2. 




c 

C3 


o' 




o 

CD 


pi 


Si 




00 


& 














» 












H 
» 


B 












B 

m 


m 










Lisbon, average 11 tests 


28.1 


10.19 


36 


.6 


8.86 


.89 


Eureka, average 7 tests 


25.25 


9.33 


37 


.0 


8.81 


.81 




34.0 


10.12 


29 


.7 


8.77 


.89 




17.5 


6.0 


34 


.2 


9.15 


.55 


Imported Messina 


26.5 


12.0 


45 


.2 


8.19 


.98 


Imported Palermo 


17.0 


5.75 


33 


.8 


9.65 


.55 


Imported Malaga 


21.5 


7.0 


32 


.5 


8.29 


.58 



*' The following points were adopted as a 
basis of comparison with the foreign lem- 
ons: 

"First — Appearance, including size of 
lemon and quality of rind. 

'* Second — Bitterness. 

"Third — Percentage of acidity. 

" First — Appearance, etc. — A lemon 
M^eighing about three ounces, when cured, 
of a bright golden color, with a smooth, 
soft rind, seems to be the favorite in the 
markets; and in all these respects the com- 
mittee were unanimous in the opinion 
hat the budded lemons on exhibition for 



Southern California were fully equal to 
the best imported. 

" The Sweet Rinds and most of the Seed- 
lings, with an occasional Lisbon and 
Eureka, were above the standard size and 
weight. This will nearly always occur 
when the fruit is permitted to hang longer 
upon the tree than is necessary to mature 
it for market. 

"It was noticed in the examination that 
the lemons of Santa Barbara, Ventura, 
Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego 
were nearly globular in form, and all hav- 
ing a smooth, morocco-like texture of the 
rind, while those of the same varieties 
found in San Gabriel and Pasadena were 
more elongated in form and not as smooth, 
and those of Riverside and vicinity were 
still more elongated and rougher in rind — 
a marked difference that must, in the 
opinion of the committee, be attributed to 
the differences in the temperature and hu- 
midity of the atmosphere in the localities 
named. 

" It is noticeable that the smoothness 
and thinness of rind indicate greater quan- 
tity of juice, owing to the belter develop- 
ment and cured state of the lemon. The 
extreme size does not show its proportion- 
al quantity of juice, but the medium sizes 
show the best averages. 

" Second— Bitterness.— A bitter lemon 
is worthless for market purposes, and to 
the fact that so many of the Seedling lem- 
ons of California are bitter, is to be attrib- 
uted, to a great extent, the low value of 
this lemon in the San Francisco markets. 

"The test for bitterness, as adopted by 
the committee, was much more severe 
than that required of the lemon in ordi- 
nary use; yet the result was an exceeding- 
ly favorable one for the best budded vari- 
eties of our lemons. 

"Out of forty-eight samples tested, thir- 
ty were entirely free from bitterness; 
seven showed only a trace, and eleven 
were decidedly bitter. 

" We think, from this showing, it will 
not be difficult for our fruit growers to 
elirninate all traces of bitterness from the 
fruit grown here. To do this successfully 
the causes must be thoroughly under- 
stood, and the remedies, well known, as 
thoroughly applied. 

"As a foundation for further and more 



84 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITEON. 



searching investigation, we offer the fol- 
lowing suggestions as to causes; 

" We are inclined to the belief that the 
stock has a great deal to do with the bit- 
terness of the fruit. It is well known that 
the fruit of the Seedling Sicily lemon is, as 
a rule, bitter, as grown in Southern Cali- 
fornia, while the fruit grown from buds 
upon the sweet orange stock is generally 
more free from bitterness. Of the eleven 
varieties marked as bitter in the foregoing 
list, it will be seen that six are Seedlings, 
four are budded on the lemon stock, and 
only one was on orange stock. 

" The condition of the fruit during 
growth will, to some extent, cause bitter- 
ness of tlie rind. If checked in its growth 
by lack or excess of moisture, or by cold, 
bitterness will result. 

** Sample No. 12 is an evidence of this, 
as it is from a tree that last season pro- 
duced fruit entirely free from bitternees, 
while this season the fruit was not fully 
grown and was imperfect when picked. 
[This sample tested above the general av- 
erage in percentage of citric acid.] 

"Again, we think that bitterness, like 
any other quality, can be transmitted 
through budding, and hence, when bitter 
fruit is found in successive j^ears upon the 
orange stock, it is due to want of care in 
selecting stock to bud from. 

" It is found also that fruit from young 
trees shows traces of bitterness that will 
gradually be lost as the tiee increases with 
age. Occasionally this bitter principle ap- 
pears in tlie imported lemon, and it is pos- 
sible that it is found in foreign countries 
to the same extent as here, but that the 
period of picking and the curing pro- 
cess tlie fruit undergoes in the voyage 
here, removes it. 

'* Third— Percentage of Acidity. — 
When freedom from bitterness is attained, 
the relative value of the lemon for com- 
mercial purposes will depend upon the 
pwcentage of acid it contains. In this re 
spect the tests, as far as we were able to 
make them, showed the superiority of the 
Californian over the imported fruit. The 
highest percentage of the imported Messina 
was 9.65 of acid, while that of the Califor- 
nia Lisbon reached 10.53, and another of 
^he same species was 10.23, and two of the 



California Eurekas were respectively 10.33^ 
and 10.43 per cent. 

"The average peicentage of acid in 
three tests made of the imported lemons^ 
gave 8.71 per cent., while that of nineteen 
tests of California budded lemons gave^ 
9.04 per cent. 

" It is a fact worthy of notice that the 
fruits giving the highest percentage of 
acid were specimens from the lomon bud 
upon orange stocks, showing the value of 
this stock for the lemon. 

" E'rom a careful analysis of the forego- 
ing it will seem that the California bud- 
ded lemon, properly grown and handled, 
is the equal in every respect of the im- 
ported lemon. Your committee is there-- 
fore forced to the conclusion that its want 
of appreciation in the San Francisco mar- 
ket is due from two causes: 

"First — Unjust prejudice against Cali- 
fornia lemons generally. 

"Second — Want of care in the producer,, 
in packing and handling the fruit. 

"That the tirst is true to some extent, 
is shown by repeated shipments of budded 
lemons from Riveiside to the Denver 
market during the past winter, whei©^ 
they brought ten dollars per box; two dol- 
lars per box more than the best imported 
lemons, while the same varietieties would 
be sold at San Francisco for two and four 
dollars per box less than the imported 
lemon. It is fair to presume that the taste 
of consumers in Denver is as highly cul- 
tivated in this respect as that of the same- 
class ill San Francisco. 

"Second — That there is deplorable care- 
lessness in picking and handling this^ 
lemon is undoubtedly true, and to this 
cause may be attributed much of the loss 
that falls to individual producers, and to 
the trade generally. A. prominent fruit 
grower of Riverside was in the city of San 
Francisco a few weeks since, and saw in 
the warehouses of one of the largest com- 
mission merchants there, a large number 
of boxes of California lemons. Upon ex- 
amination he found them of all sizes, col- 
ors and shapes, tumbled into the boxes,, 
without wrapping or care of any kind.. 
The result was that they would either 
have to be sold at a price that would 
hardly pay freight and commission, or be^ 
stored for some weeks and then sorted 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITEO^T. 



85 



and repacked, at considerable cost to the 
owner, and possibly laio:e loss of frnit. 

As an appendix to the above report, 
the committee would offer the foUowino:: 

"Recommendations. — Discard all trees 
tliat. after a fan- and repeated trial, con- 
tinue to show bitterness of fruit. 

•• Exercise great care in the selection of 
varieties free from bitterness and rich in 
<-iiric acid, from which to bud. 

V^e the Seedling orange as a stock up- 
on whit-h lo bud. as t he orange isa hardier 
^nd healtliiei- stcvk, and the lemon budded 
upon it is hardier than upon lemon stock. 

••Kee[) your trees in a healthy, vigorous 
condition, especudly during the fruiting 
■season. 

" Tlie Lisbon and Eureka lemons are so 
fai- the most promising \arieties, being- 
productive, early bearing, of medium size, 
iine appearance, sweet rind and rich in acid. 

"As the lemon can be kept from six to 
eight moiiilis after picking, if properly 
handled and c-ured. and will improve 
rather ihaii lo -e m qualiiy during that 
lime, pick the fruit before it is ripe, (»r 



rather while a portion of the rind is green; 
store it for six or eight weeks in a cool, 
dry room, thoroughly ventilated, placing 
the fruit in thin layers on shelves or hur- 
dles, where it can readily be examined 
and picked over if necessary. 

"Avoid moisture during the process of 
curing. Sort when ready for maket, mak- 
ing at least two sizes or qualities, and pack 
none but perfect specimens, wrapping 
neatlj' in tissue paper, with the name of 
the variety and producer printed upon the 
wrapper, as a guarantee of good faith in 
the shipper. 

"With these rules fully observed, we 
see no reason to doubt the prompt appre- 
ciation of California budded lemons in 
every market, and a complete check given 
to the importation of foreign lemons into 
California. 

L. M. Holt, 1 
Thos. Hendry, ] 
H. J. Ri-DisiLL. ;-Com^, 

G. W. G^RGEIiON, 1 

L. C. Waits. J 
" W. N. Mann, Sec\y." 



CHAPTER in. 

LEMONS— PROPAGA'riON AND CULTURE. 



Lemons are j^ropagared in the same 
manner as oranges. It is unnecessary, 
tlierefore. to re\'ie\v ilip >ul\iect of propa- 
gatio'- in tliis crinnee-iion. 

From what iuis Ijeen >^aid in the preced- 
ing chapter, the inference is plain that 
there is Hale demand for seedling lemon 
trees. The only lemons wortli cultivat- 
ing are the e-hoiee budded A'arieties. Ex- 
perience has demonstrated that the or- 
ange is a hardier stock than the lemon, 
and as it is believed that ttiere is no dete- 
rioration of ffiiit by this conjunction, it 
has come to be a universal practice to 
grow lemons on orange roots.'"^ The lemon 

*XoTE. — Dr. O. H. Cougar, uf Pasadena, a recog- 
nized authority on eir"us culture, takes issue with 
this cnmmouly accepted the^n-y. claiiuiug th it the 
lemon dereriorates in bitdding ttpou orange stock. 
He hohls that enough of the orange characteristics 
are incorporated to render the lemons of an ungain- 
ly .size and to lessen the degTee of acidiiy. It is 
possible that further years of exiieriment maj- 
demonsirate that J^r. Cougar is meastiraljly correct, 
and, if st. lemons will be bttdded on lemon stocks 
only, and (U'auges on orange .stocks. 



has proven an unreliable stock upon 
which to bud the orange, as it exercises 
enough inliuence through the budded 
growtli fco render the fruit a bad orange 
and not a good lemon. The lemon stock 
in mature trees is quite susceptible to 
gum disease, especially if much irrigated. 
There is then no call for propagating lem- 
on seed, except in the way of experiment. 

Wiiat has been said about rearing bud- 
ded orange trees in nursery' applies equal- 
ly to budded lemons, and almost the same 
may be repeated through the whole cate- 
gory of planting the trees, cultivating, 
pruning, freeing from insects, manuring 
and rejuvenating when worn out. There 
is in fact, the greatest similarity between 
these twin sisters in the citrus family — 
the orange and lemon. A novice would 
scarcely detect the diflerence in size and 
shape of tree, foliage and bloom, although 
there is an appreciable ditierence on clo.se 



86 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITRON. 



inspection. The wide divergence is man- 
ifested only in the fruit, and these are 
probably not the only twin sisters that 
have proven strangely sweet and sour. 
In pruning lemcns some of our most ex- 



perienced cultivators favor a low growth, 
as they think that most nearly conforms 
to the natural habit of the tree. This was 
adverted to in the chapter on pruning. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BUDDED VARIETIES. 



As the budded varieties of lemons are 
alone commended, it is in order to give a 
list of the kinds grown and a description 
of each. The list is scant, but it comprises 
some excellent varieties, any of which 
would redeem the character of lemon cul- 
ture in California. 

Sweet Rind. — This was the first im- 
proved vai'iety originated here as a seed- 
ling. It is a fair lemon, but is excelled by 
others since introduced. 

The Lisbon. — This was the first foreign 
variety introduced, coming from Australia. 
The tree is a strong grower, quite thorny, 
not so early in bearing as other varieties. 
Fruit oblong, symmetrical, strong acid; 
more or less seeds; rind sweet and thin. 
Acid rarely goes below 7 per cent, and fre- 
quently exceeds that standard. 

The Eureka.— This is a chance seed- 
ling originated by Mr. C. R. Workman 
and introduced by Mr. T. A. Garey in 
1877-8. The tree makes a vigorous growth, 
and is thornless. Fruit sharply' pointed 
at blossom end, fair in texture, seedless 
and sweet rind; acid the best. 

Genoa.— Imported from Italy. Tree 



thornless and an early beaier. Fruit 
good in all respects except acidity. Tests 
show the amount of acid to vary so much 
that the fruit is not looked upon with 
favor. 

Bonnie Bbae. — This was originated by 
Mr. H. M. Higgins, of San Diego, from 
imported seed. I consider it the hand- 
somest lemon grown in California , (See 
full description in succeeding chapter.) 
Tree of average size, a strong grower, 
quite thorny. Fruit symmetrical, texture 
the finest, rind thin, almost seedless, acid 
fair, and the juice possesses a peculiar 
rich fiavor. 

Olivia. — Originated by Mr. Geo. C. 
Swan, of San Diego. Tree somewhat 
thorny, good bearer. The fruit is excel- 
lent, test showing 8.08 per cent citric acid. 

Garcelon's Knobby. — A variety origi- 
nated by Mr. G. W. Garcelon. of River- 
side, and not yet introduced for general 
propagation. The fruit is small and pe- 
culiarly marked with along spike at the 
blossom end. This vai-iety possesses ad- 
vantages which may make it a favorite at 
no distant day. 



CHAPTER V. 

PREPARING FOR MARKET. 

The same general principles whicli ap- dering it soft and pliable, with a texture 
ply to the handling of oranges apply somewhat like a kid glove. Lemons 
to lemons. The fruit should be pick- cured in tliis way will keep a long time, 
ed when dry and stored for a period and are not susceptible to decay in transit 
during which it undergoesa sweating and as the result of close packing or bruising, 
curing process. In this way the excess of Tliere is no secret about the curing pro- 
moisture IS evaporated from the skin, ren- cess. The lemons are merely spread out 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITKON. 



87 



in thin layers in a dry, cool, well ventilat- 
ed place and left anywhei-e from ten days 
to ten weeks, as suits the convenience of 
the grower. As the lemon ripens in mid- 
winter, wh«n there is little call for acid 
fruits, the advantages usually sought by 
the producer is to keep his fruit as long as 
possible before putting it upon the market. 

In Florida, where the atmosphere is 
veiy humid, lemon producers have found 
it an advantage in curing their fruit, to 
fumigate it with sulphur to destroy the 
germs of fungus. The process has been 
tried here, but without satisfactory re- 



sults. In our dry climate there is proba- 
bly no better way to cure lemons than to 
arrange them so that they have shade and 
a plenty of air. Dr. Congar advises 
throwing the lemons in piles under the 
trees and leaving them there ten days or 
two weeks, when he says they will be 
most perfectly cured. 

The most advanced shippers grade their 
lemons carefully and wrap them in papers 
for shipment. The packing boxes em- 
ployed are the same as those used for or- 
anges. 



CHAPTER VL 

THE BONNIE BRAE LEMON. 



I wish to call this variety into promi- 
nent notice, both because I believe it to be 
one of the finest lemons yet grown in Cal- 
ifornia, raid because it is a stranger and 
needs an introduction. My attention was 
first called to the Bonnie Brae by a plate 
of the fruit on exhibition in the Los An- 
geles Citrus Fair of 1880. So different 
was this fruit from other varieties of lem- 
ons on display that people were at a loss 
whether to class it as a lemon at all. The 
cut presented herewith, showing a group 
of Bonnie Brae lemons on a stem, is a cor- 
rect representation, taken from life. The 
fruit is from medium to small, somewhat 
obl(mg, more abruptly rounded at the 
ends than ordinary lemons and possess- 
ing only slight protuberances at the blos- 
som and stem ends. The texture of the 
skin is as fine as a kid glove, and when 
the lemon has seasoned a few days sligiit 
longitudinal corrugations appear as shown 
m the picture. The fruit is absolutely 
beautiful to look upon. 

Various and repeated examinations have 
convinced me that it is as good as it is 
handsome. 

The Bonnie Brae was originated by Mr. 
H. M. Higgins, of San Diego, from for- 
eign seed. He contented himself, it seems, 
with budding a nursery of one hundred 
trees from the original stock, making no 
great etfort to introduce the variety to 
public attention. In 1883 I purchased 
three of the trees from him, but, being- 



poorly packed for shipment and delayed 
on the road, they were dried out and dead 
when they reached me. I made an effort 
to obtain others, but was too late, as Mr. 
Higgins had parted with his entire re- 
maining stock, sending them to his broth- 
er in Lower California. In lieu of trees, 
however, he forwarded to me some buds 
from the original tree. These I passed 
over to a nurseryman and had them in- 
serted in orange stock. I was fortunate 
enough to obtain therefrom one hundred 
and twelve thrifty trees, which are now 
growing on my place. 

Since my correspondence with Mr. Hig- 
gins began, I have obtained two samples 
of these lemons — one in 1883 and one in 
1884— and have subjected them to every 
test I could devise, with tJie most satis- 
factory results. The average size of the 
fruit is about eight inches in longitudinal 
circumference. The most notable features 
are its fine-textared skin, its bright color, 
and its unusual weight. Divided with a 
knife, the texture within is found to ful- 
fill the promise of the exterior. The rind 
is not above a sixteenth of an inch in 
thickness, and when the lemon has been 
allowed to season some time it reduces to 
a mere wafer. The pulp is tender, melt- 
ing and brimful of juice of fair acid char- 
acter and rich flavor. The seeds, if any, 
are few and small. In both years that I 
tested the fruit I laid several lemons away 
in a drawer, where they remained up- 



88 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITRON. 



^vards of eight months. Instead of rot- 
ting, ihey dried down to veritable lemon 
jnummies, and the dessicated pulp still 
left a sharp acid taste on the tongue. 
This experiment demonstrated to my 
satisfaction the keeping qualities of the 
lemon. 



hundred Bonnie Brae. Mr. Higgins ob- 
tained his stock from the seeds of rotten 
lemons, all the best foreign varieties, hav- 
ing- been saved and shipped to him by a 
fruit dealer in San FrancisCv.. The Sicily 
lemons (we use the term in contradistinc- 
tion to Bonnie Brae) are generally large, 




GROUP OF BONXIE BRAE LEMONS. 



In answer to an inqnirv from me as to 
the origin of the Bonnie Brae, Mr. Hig- 
gins w^rote, under date of August 14th, 
1884, as f()lh)ws: 

"I saved the seed of the Sicily lemon, 
and from that seed I obtained all varieties, 
from the commonest citron up to this fine 
lemon, which we named after the place, 
* Bonnie Brae.' You cannot tell the tree 
by its looks from any other lemon tree 
in the grove. It is not a lime in any sense 
of the word." 

In the San Diego Union of March, 1882, 
I find quite a full description of Mr. 
Higgins's farsi, in which the following 
occurs: 

"The lemon trees numbei* about four 
hundred — three hundred Sicily and one 



thin skinned and juicy, and of a fine flavor. 
But the Bonnie Brae is superfine. There 
is as much difference beween it and the 
ordmary lemon as there is between a com- 
mon bronco and a thorougiibred horse. 
Mr. Higgins can give no account of this 
superior variety beyond the fact that the 
fruit first appeared on a solitary tree in his 
orchard. This lemon is more oblong than 
the ordinary variety, has a smoother, thin- 
ner skin, is seedless, has a larger percent- 
age of juice and a richer flavor. This re- 
markable lemon is called Bonnie Brae by 
Mr. Higgins, after the name of his orchard 
home. Such a fine specimen of the citrus 
family has never been produced in any of 
the semi-tropic orchards of the world. It 
is an original product of San Diego coun- 



THE LEMON, LIME AND CITIiON. 



89 



ty, and testifies nnniistakably to the su- 
periority of the climate and soil of this 
locality. The orchard now contains quite 
a nuniber of trees of the Bonnie Brae va- 



riety, budded on orange stock. Thei-e is 
no tendency to i-eveision, l)nt, on the oth- 
er hand, the fruit goes on steadily inn- 
proving." 



CHAPTFR VIL 

THK I.TME AND OTHER CITRUS FRUITIS. 



The lime grows in Southern California 
Avith the same culture as the orange and 
lemon. It is a dwarf tree or shrub, ac- 
cording to training, and bears asmallfruit 
about one-half or one-third the size of a 
lemon, and strongly acid. 

The lime industry in California — if it 
may be thus dignified — is in statu quo. 
Some 3'ears ago ttiese trees were planted 
to a considerable extent, but they proved 
very susceptible to frost and were mostly 
killed out. A grove of some size is to be 
found at the vSierra Mad re Yilla on the 
mesa, at an elevation of eighteen hundred 
feet abo^ e sea level. Here, being practi- 
cally free from frost, the trees flourish and 
bear well. 

No systematic effort has ever been made 
to improve the quality ot limes grown 
here. Tiie Mexican product is superior to 
ours, and being imported in large quanti- 
ties, and at low prices, practically drives 
California limes out of the San Francisco 
market. Enough of the fruit is produced 
ill Southern California to supply local re- 
quirements, but there is at present no 
stimulus for lurther plantations. 

Some people align their places with 
lime trees which they trim close for a 
hedge. Thus shortened in the limbs 
thicken, making the foliage dense, and 
forming altogether a ver3^ prettj^ hedge- 
row. If, in a severe winter, they chance 



to be stricken by frost, the lateral bl anches 
may be cut away, when the stocks will 
put forth new growth antl, in a year, the 
hedge is itself again. 

Citrons are cultivated to a less extent 
even than limes. I may say, in fact, tliat 
they are only grown as curiosities. The 
same may be said of the Pumalo orange 
and Chinese lemon. All of these fruits 
are very laige and tJiick skinned. When 
utilized, the rind is the valuable part, the 
pulp being either insipid or bitter. We 
are all familiar with the citron of com- 
merce, which '.onsists of the rind of the 
citron fruit, deprived of its essential oil 
and cured as a preserve or confection. 

A few j'^ears ago a firm in San Francisco 
attempted the preparation of citron for 
tne traxie, ana, to tnis ena, purcnasea an 
the citrons, Chinese lemons, and Pumalo 
oranges that were available in our section 
of the State. But we heard nothing fur- 
ther from the venture, and it was prolja- 
bly a failure. There is no question, how- 
ever, but that, with the proper process, 
the citron of commerce might be manu- 
factured from our fruit. 

Meanwhile, the Pumalo and its coujgen- 
ers, when allowed growing space, continue 
to load themselves down with fruit as 
large as foot balls. They are matters of 
wonder, and that is all. The best citrus 
goods are done up in smaller parcels. 



APPENDIX. 

Insects Injurious to Citrus Trees, 

[FEOM the work of HON. M ATTHE W^COOKE.] 

And How to Combat Them, 



I 

i 



i 




CHAPTER I. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CITRUS TREES. 



THE BLACK SCALE. 

{Leeanium o^ete— Bernard.) Order, Hem- 
iptera; sub-order, Homoptera; family, 
Coccidce. 

[A dark brown hemispherical scale in- 
sect, or bark-loiise, which infests all va- 
rieties of citrus trees, and nearly all 
varieties of deciduous fruit trees, and 
many shrubs, vines, etc.] 

The black scale is more generally found 
in the orchards and gardens of California 
than any other species of the Coccidce. 

It infests the orange, lemon, lime, olive, 
apple, pear, peach, apricot, plum, prune, 
clieiry and pomegranate trees. In the 
garden it infests the honeysuckle, chrys- 
anthemum, rose, oleander, and many 
other plants ; and this, or a closely allied 
species, infests the forest trees. The pres- 
ence of this species can be readiU^' de- 
^ tected by the appearance on the branches, 
foliage and fruit of a black smut, known 
to scientists as Fumago sciiicina, and the 
cause of its production is a question upoii 
which authorities ditiV^r. I am convinced, 
from practical investigation, and also from 
information received from Mr. Alexander 
Craw, and Mr. Wolfskill, of Los Angeles, 
and the late A. B. Clark, of Orange, Los 
Angeles countv, that the black smut is 
caused by a honeydew exuded by the 
females of the black scale insect, in the 
stage of their life between the first forma- 
tion of the calcareous secretion by which 
the insect is covered, and their reaching 
maturity or becoming fixed to any part of 
the plant. 

In relation to this smut or fungus, Pro- 
fessor Barlow writes : "The result of our 
examination of the diseased orange and 
olive leaves is briefly as follows : The 
disease, although first attracting the eye 
by the presence of the black fungus, is 
not caused by it, but rather by the attack 
of some insect which itself deposits some 
gummy substance on the leaf and bark, 



or so wounds the tree as to cause somo^ 
sticky exudation on which the fungus 
especially thrives. It is not denied, 
that the growth of the fungus great- 
ly aggravates the trouble already 
existing by encasing the leaves, thus 
preventing the action of the sun- 
light. We only say that in seeking a 
remedy we are to look further back than 
the fungus, itself, to the insect, or what- 
ever it may be, which lias made the lux- 
uriant growth of the fungus possiVjle. 

The smut or fungus is found on the- 
branches, foliage and fruit of orange^ 
lemon, lime and olive trees infested by 
the black scale. I have also seen apricots 
and peaches, taken from trees infested by 
this insect, so thoroughly covered by this 
smut that it destroyed their market value 
for canning purposes. 

Natural History.— The black scale 
when full grown is of a dayk brown color,, 
neaily hemispherical in form, but is 
slightly longer than broad ; length, from 
two to two and a half lines^'^; width, about 
two-thirds of the length ; height, one and 
one-half lines ; there are two ridges or 
bars across the body, apparently dividinj4; 
it into three parts, the middle being the 
largest; a sliort ridge along the back joins 
the two cross ridges, forming lines resem- 
bling the letter H; the edge of the cover- 
ing of the insect resting on the wood,, 
foliage, etc., is margined, and has a 
grooved or fiuted appearance nearly one- 
half the height of the insect. 

The eggs are ovai in form ; when first 
laid, whitish ; before hatching, a reddish 
yellow. From seventy-five to one hun- 
dred and seventy-five are deposited by 
each female of this species. 

The larva is one-seventy-fifth of an inch 
long; width, five-eighths of length; form, 
oval; antennae, six or seven jointed. From 
the time the secretions begin to form until 

*A " line " as here used is one-twelfth of an inch 



94 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CITEUS TREES. 



the insect has reached maturity, it assumes 
difterent sliades of color — first, greenish 
brown; liaif grown, reddish brown, and 
at maturity, dark brown. 

It is doubtful if there are more than one 
brood in each j^ear. The first brood is 
hatched, in Sacramento, about the first of 
]S[ay, but do not attempt to leave from un- 
der the scale until the twelfth, yet it is 
very common to find thefemales of this 
species depositing their eggs late in Sep- 
tember, but whether they are of the spring 
brood I am not prepared to say. 

In relation to the length of time the le- 
caniums are capable of moving from one 
place to another, Mons. V. Signoret writes: 
"Before pregnancy they have the power 
to move, if necessary." 

THE RED SCALE. (CAL.) 

{Aspidiotus aurentii — Maskell.) Synonym, 
Aspidiotus citrii — Conistock. Order, 
Hemiptera; sub - order, Homoptera; 
family, CoccidcB. 

[A circular reddish scale insect, infest- 
ing the citrus trees, and has been found 
on grape-vmes and the foliage of walnut 
trees.] 

The red scale infests some of the citrus 
groves of Southern California, and orange 
trees in Sacramento and Marysville. It 
has also been found on grape-vines and 
on the foliage of walnut trees, but I do 
not think that any damage will be done to 
these plants by this pest. As the walnut 
sheds its foliage annually, the insects are 
likely to be destroyed; and those which I 
liave examined on the grape-vines in the 
month of September, and which appeared 
to be in a healthy condition, were dead 
and shrunken when I examined the vines 
in the month of February following. 

It is generally conceded that this species 
is an importation from Australia. 

Natural History. — Female scale, 
nearly transparent, circular, of a light- 
grayish color, and measures from one line 
to one and one-quarter lines in diameter; 
exuviae or cast skin in center, yellowish ; 
second larval skin easily distinguished. 

Male scale, a little darker in color and 
smaller than the female scale; form, elon- 
gated; exuvije nearest the anterior end. 

Eggs. — It is thought by some writers 



that the females of this species are vivipa- 
rous. I have watched the female insect 
ovipositing, and immediately examined 
the egg or sack under a microscope, using 
a high power, and could not detect any 
appendages; however, in twenty - four 
hours I noticed the presence of antennae 
and legs. The insect produces from two 
to four of these eggs or sacks in twenty- 
four hours, and the number produced by 
each female is from twenty to forty-three; 
the latter is the highest number I have 
found. 

In the month of September, 1882, 1 found 
a lemon at an orchard in Los Angeles 
county on which the larvae of thirty-nine 
male scale insects had located around the 
stem of the fruit, and as there was only 
one matured scale on The lemon this was 
evidently the number produced by one 
female. Larva color, bright yellow ; form, 
ovoid; length, one-eightieth of an inch; 
antennae, six jointed; anal setae, present. 

Female: color, light or primrose yellow 
when the scale is formed, but as it reaches 
maturity it becomes a brownish yellow. 
The formation of the body is such that 
under the scale, when examined with a 
lense, its appearance is that of a broken 
ring, but when ovipositing the posterior 
end of the abdomen extends beyond the 
circular line of the body. The color of 
the natural insect is shown through the 
nearly transparent scale from which it de- 
rives its com n^ on name — Red Scale. 

Male : color of body, amber j'^ellow, with 
dark marking on thorax; eyes, black. 

Female red scale insect: color, yellow. 

The young larvae can be found at all sea- 
sons of the year, and there are probably 
four or five broods in each year. 

the RED SCALE OF FLORIDA. 

{Aspidiotus /icMS— Riley, MSS.; Chrysom- 
phalus ficus — Riley, MSS. Ashmead.) 
Order, Hemiptera; sub-order, Homop- 
tera; family, Coccidce. 
[A species of scale insect infesting the 
branches, foliage and fruit of orange trees 
in Florida and the Island of Cuba.] 

Professor Comstock describes this spe- 
cies as follows: Female Scale. — Color, 
the part of the scale covering the second 
skin is a light reddish brown; the remain- 
der of the scale is much darker, varying 



INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO CITRUS TKEES. 



95 



from a dark reddish brown to black, ex- 
cepting the thin part of the margin,* which 
is gray; exuviae nearly central, whitish in 
tfresh specimens; form, circular, one line 
in diameter. Male Scale. — The scale of 
the male is about one-fourth as large as 
that of the female; the posterior side is 
prolonged into a thin flap, which is gray 
an color. (See United States Agricultural 
Beport, 1880; and Ashmead on ' Orange 
Insects,' 1880." 

THE LEMON-PEEL SCALE. (CAL.) 

(Aspidiotus nerii—Bouche.) Order, Hem- 
iptera; sub-order, Homoptera; family, 
CoccidcB. 

[A whitish circular scale insect, infest- 
ing the lemon, plum, cherry and currant; 
also the oleander, acacia, magnolia, etc.] 

This species has been known to sci- 
entists as the "Oleander Scale,'' from 
which it derives its specific name, nerii. 
Within the last four or five years it has 
been found on the lemon, plum, cherry 
and currant; also on the acacia, magnolia, 
etc. It seems to prefer the fruit of the 
lemon, and in many cases infests the skin 
or peel to such an extent as to reduce its 
market value. California cannot claim a 
sole proprietary right to this pest, as lem- 
ons imported from Europe are often offer- 
ed for sale in our market which are seri- 
ously infested by A. nerii. 

Natural History.— The female scale is 
of a whitish color, and nearly circular, 
measures one line in diameter; exuvije 
or cast skin, yellowish, and near the cen- 
ter, Male scale, white, smaller and not 
as circular as that of the female. Egg, 
light yellow. Larva, yellowish white; 
length, one-eighty-fifth of an inch. Fe- 
male, light yellow, with darker blotches; 
body, circular; abdominal segments ap- 
pear as a pointed projection at one part of 
the circle. Male insect, winged; body, 
yellowish, with dark markings. The 
iemon-peel scale insect closely resembles 
the red seal, and it is only by the differ- 
ence in color that a person not thoroughly 
acquainted with the respective species can 
distinguish them. 

pergande's orange scale, (cal.) 
( Parlatoria pei-gandii—Gomstoe^ . ) Order, 
Bemiptera; sub - order, Homoptera; 
family, Coccidce. 



[A scale insect infesting the branches, 
foliage and fruit of citrus trees.] 

I have found this species on the orange 
tree in Sacramento, but have not found it 
in any other part of the State. 

The female scale is somewhat elongated 
in form, but nearly circular, the exuviae 
at one side of the center; color, grayish; 
exuviae yellow, and generally oval in 
shape. 

The scale of the male is elongated and 
narrow; color, dirty white, exuviae at the 
anterior end. Female — color, purplish, 
with posterior end of the body yellowish, 
and is nearly as broad as long. Eggs — 
color, purplish; elongated; from nine to 
twenty found under each female scale. 
Larva — length, nearly one-nineteenth of 
an inch; color, purplish. Male — color, 
dark purplish. 

the citrus leaf and fruit scale. 
{Mytilaspis citricola — Packard.) Syno- 
nym, Aspidiotus citricola — Packard. 
Order, Himiptera; sub-order, Homop- 
tera; family, Coccida^. 
[An elongated, slightly curved scale in- 
sect, infesting citrus trees.] 

This species of scale insect has not been 
found on any of the citrus trees in this 
State, so far as I know, but it will be 
strange if it is not found in the near fu- 
ture. It is not a rare occurrence to find it 
on oranges, etc., which are imported from 
Europe, Australia and Tahiti, and offered 
for sale on fruit stands throughout the 
State. 

The scale of this species is similar in 
form and appearance to that of the oyster 
shell bark-louse, excepting that it may be 
a little wider at the posterior end. Length 
of female scale, about one and one-half 
lines. The male scale is similar to other 
species of Mytilaspis in having a hinge- 
like joint, posterior to the middle of the 
scale, so that by lifting the posterior part 
up the perfect insect can emerge. 

THE SOFT ORANGE SCALE. (CAL.) 

[Leeanium hesperidum — Linnaeus.) Order, 
Hemiptera; sub-order, Homoptera; fam- 
ily, Coccidce. 

[An oval flattened scale insect, infesting 
citrus trees, especially the orange.] 

The soft orange scale is found in Califor- 
nia in nearly every locality where citrus 
trees are grown. It infests the wood, foli- 



INSECTS INJCRIOrS TO CITELS TEEES. 



age and fin it. This, or a closely-allied 
species, is found on plants in hot-houses. 

Professor Comstock, in his Entomolog- 
ical Report of 1880, writes: "The male of 
this species has never been found, al- 
though it has been studied from the lime 
of Linnteus down." 

In September, 1880, I prepared a dry 
mounting of a specimen of Lecaniumhes- 
peridum for microscopic use at the State 
Fair of that year. Early in the week a 
small insect was noticed coming from un- 
der a specimen beneath the glass, and 
finally released, itself. It proved to be a 
male scale insect. 

Natural History. — Female — a broad, 
oval scale, measuring from one and one- 
quarter to one and one-half lines m length, 
Avidest at the posterior end; color, dark 
brown on top, and a lighter brown sur- 
rounding the margin. Two indenialions 
on the margin on each side, and a large 
indentation on the posterior end. It has 
powers of locomotion similar to those of 
other Leccaiiums. I have not found the 
egg of tills species, but have found large 
numbers of the young larvae — as many 
as forty -five under one specimen. The 
young larvje appear about the first of 
May in the vicinity of Sacramento. Larva 
length, one-eighty-fifth of an inch; color, 
dark or dirty yellow; antennae, six jointed 
(some specimens appear to have seven 
joints); two anal setae. 

Descriptiox. — Length of body, one- 
seventy-second of an inch; from front of 
head to apex of wing, one-twenty-fourth 
of an inch; posterior stylets, one-fony- 
fifth of an inch, or one- half the length of 
body; color, bodi', immaculate golden 
yellow; eyes, dark or black; antennae 
(from the peculiar position in which they 
are placed I can only count seven joints), 
golden yellow and hairy; legs, golden 
yellow. 

As it did not agree w ith the description 
of any of the male scale insects I had. read 
of, or specimen males of aurantii., perni- 
ciosus^ per.yetR, rapax^ roseoi or purchasi in 
my possession, I could only imagine that 
it was the male of L. hesperidum (be what 
it may, it came from under the L. hesper- 
idum scale), and fortunately I pi;^served 
the mounting. 



OOTTOXY CUSHION SCALE. (CAL.) 

{Icerya purchasi — Maskell.) Order, He- 
miptera; sub-order, Homoptera; family, 
Coccidce. 

[A white, cushion-like scale insect, feed- 
ing upon citrus trees, deciduous fruit treeSy 
forest trees and on some varieties of veg- 
etables.] 

This species of scale insect I consider 
the most dangerous of any that infests 
fruit and other trees in California, as it 
may be said to be a general feeder. It is 
found on all varieties of citrus trees, de- 
ciduous fruit trees, on many varieties of 
ornamental trees, forest trees and shrubs; 
also on some varieties of vegetables. The 
apparent color of this scale insect at first 
sight is white, with a dark colored head.- 
On examination it is found that the part 
indicated by the dark color is the insect^ 
and the white portion a bag or case spun 
by the insect to conceal her eggs when de- 
posited. 

The females, after ovipositing (the egg 
case included), difi"er in size, some meas- 
uring six lines in length ; but the general 
length is from three to four lines; width,, 
one and one-half to three lines, and slight- 
ly tapering toward the posterior end. Each 
female deposits from two hundred to five 
hundred eggs. In one instance I counted 
seven hundred and ihree. The eggs are 
oblong-ovate in form, and of a pale red 
color. 

Larva — color, body red; antennae, six 
jointed, clubbed at the apex, on which are 
six long hairs — color, smoky black; legs, 
smoky black (the joints of the antennae 
and legs are lighter in color than the bal- 
ance); there are six long anal hairs; the 
margin of the body and back is also dot- 
ted with hairs; length of body, one-thirty- 
fifth of an inch. 

The female insect during her growth 
assumes a variety of colors; principally 
yellowish red, with irregular blotches of 
white, green and yellow. At full growth, 
and before spinning egg case, she is ovoid 
in form. The hairs on the anal margin 
and sides are used as spinarets, exuding 
a cottony-like secretion, of which the egg 
case is formed. During her growth, and 
before beginning to spin her egg case, the 
females exude a honeydew, which forms 
a black smut on the branches and foliage,. 



I 



INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO CITEUS TEEES. 



as described under the head, Black Scale. 

Male insect, winged; color, thorax and 
body dark brown, abdomen red; antennae 
dark colored, with light brown hairs ex- 
tending from each joint; wmgs brown, 
irridescent. ____ 

TREATMENT FOR SCALE BUGS. 
[From the Bulletin of tlie Los Angeles Horticultu- 
ral Commission.] 

In all cases of infection from the white 
cottony cushion scale, it is recommended 
that the trees be thoroughly sprayed pre- 
vious to an}^ pruning. This plan is deem- 
ed the better one, because the danger of 
scattering and spreading the insects is 
much less than in the pi-actice of cutting 
back or thinning out the trees previous to 
medicating. If properly and thoroughly 
used this first application will kill a con- 
siderable proportion of the bugs, man^^ of 
which, if the trees were first pruned or 
cut back, notwithstanding the use of great 
caution and care in removing brush to the 
fire, would fall to the ground and seek 
adjoining trees or plants for food and 
breeding spots. 

Use for spraying white scale, 35 pounds 
whale-oil soap, 4 gallons coal oil (110 fire 
test), to every 100 gallons of water. The 
coal oil must be made into an emulsion 
with the soap first, then add balance of 
soap and water, in the following manner: 
First, boil the soap in as little water as pos- 
sible, as the soap must be thick to take up 
the coal oil and make a proper emulsion. 
When thoroughly dissolved and well boil- 
ed, place five gallons of this liot soap in 
an empty barrel, some distance from the 
boiling kettle, to prevent accident from 
fire; then add coal oil and churn vigor- 
ously for about ten minutes, with a stick 
with cross pieces about five inches wide 
at the end, forming a T. If the mixture 
at this time turns to a thick cream, pour 
in a little cold water — say two gallons — 
and churn again for a few moments; then 
add five or more gallons of water. Do not 
pour in water all at once, but a little at a 
time, and Churn constantly while poui-mg 
in the water. This mixture, when prop- 
erly emulsified, will form a whitish, 
creamy substance. The most p;irticular 
attention must be given to malting the 
emulsion proper!}', otherwise the oil, not 
being incorporated with the soap aiid wa- 



97 

ter, will rise to the top, and while portions 
of the tree will receive an overdose of 
kerosene, other parts will get little else 
than soap and water. The result will be 
unsatisfactory, for the coal oil must go 
with the soap to do eftectual work in kill- 
ing the bug. 

As soon as practicable after the first ap- 
plication, proceed to cut back and thin out 
the tree, burning the brush as near the 
tree from which it is taken as possible 
withotit danger of injury to it. A large 
canvas under the tree during the pruning 
will, if carefully disinfected at the finish, 
prove of considerable benefit. A band of 
rope, thoroughly smeared with coal tar, 
about the trunk of the tree, first putting 
a band of leather or thick cloth over which 
to tie the rope, will prevent- the insect from 
ascending, and tend to indicate its presence 
and location for future treatment. Cases 
of ordinary infection can undoubtedly be 
cured if the above is carried out faithfully 
and to the very letter, and by keeping 
such close watch over the trees that the 
reappearance of the bug is at once fol- 
lowed by an application of the spray, be- 
fore any time has lapsed for breeding and 
spreading. In aggravated cases of infec- 
tion, where the bug has a strong hold 
upon the tree, topping, careful brush 
burning and hand scrubbing must be re- 
sorted to. Btit even in such cases the use 
of the spray at first would much simplif3^ 
the work and lessen the danger of scatter- 
ing and spreading the scale bugs. It is 
highly necessaiy to success that all weeds 
in the vicinity of infected trees should be 
carefully gathered up and burned. 

For the red scale, July and August are 
the best uiontiis to spray in, as they hatch 
during May and June. Use thirLy-fi\ e 
pounds of soap and three gallons coal oil 
to evei-y one hundred gallons of water. If 
sprayed in September or October add five 
pounds of soap. 

The best months to spra\- for black 
scale are September and October. Tbey 
hatch through July and August. Use 
thirty pounds soap and two and one-half 
gallons coal oil to every one hundred gal- 
lons watei-. Thinning out and cutting 
away all surplus v>rood will do much to- 
^vat ds t elie\ ing the trees fi-om black scale. 
Care should be taken to strain the wash 
through fine wire cloth, otherwise frequent 
stops v. ill be necessary to clear the spray 
nozzle. 



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